Scripps Mercy Hospital has received the largest donation in its 116-year history , $10 million from local millionaire developer Conrad Prebys.
The money will be used to support the 700-bed hospital’s emergency room, one of the busiest in the county.
It treated more than 52,000 emergency and trauma patients last year, and serves San Diego as well as Chula Vista.
Prebys, a working class hero born in Indiana who got his start by operating a pizzeria there, ranked No. 17 out of 25 on the Business Journal’s 2005 List of San Diego’s Wealthiest.
The Point Loma resident’s estimated worth is at least $300 million, according to the list.
He is the president of Progress Construction and Management Company, a real estate development and management company he founded in 1966. His firm owns and manages about 6,000 apartments, condominiums and houses, as well as storage facilities in San Diego County.
In 2005, Prebys donated $10 million to the Old Globe Theatre and $1 million to the Santee Boys & Girls Club.
, Katie Weeks
