A Legacy of Giving

April 16, 2010

An adventure Donald Pierce, MD, and his wife Janet began decades ago as employees at Massachusetts General Hospital continues today, in their retirement, through their philanthropy.Dr. Pierce found two loves at Mass General — orthopaedic surgery, his specialty, and his wife. “Our story is a hospital romance,” he recalls. He was a third-year medical student, and she was a social worker assigned to the Medical Clinic.
“He visited me three times in the clinic before he asked me out,” remembers Mrs. Pierce. “I said yes, and we have been together ever since — for more than 53 years.”

After graduating from Harvard Medical School, he built a career at Mass General that lasted 40 years. “While in medical school, I thought about becoming a heart surgeon and also looked at ear, nose and throat surgery as an option, but then I discovered orthopaedics,” says Dr. Pierce. He especially loved teaching and wrote a book on the treatment of spine injuries.

He is devoted to the hospital where he spent his career. “I love Mass General. It’s a terrific place,” he says. “We have referred many neighbors in Maine to MGH, and when they arrive, they look at the front of the hospital and feel a bit overwhelmed, they’ve said. But then they enter, and they soon find that it feels like a small community hospital. From the top-ranking physicians to the newest administrative assistant, everyone works together to care for the patient.”

“We have been giving to Mass General for years, because we were both raised in this way — to give back,” says Mrs. Pierce. “Then, when we sold our home in Brookline, we talked to our advisor, and he suggested establishing a charitable remainder trust with the home. By selling the house through a trust, we would receive tax benefits and an income for life. The remainder can be split among charities. We named Mass General as one
of the beneficiaries of the trust to help people to continue to receive the best medical treatment.”

The Pierces’ gift is restricted to orthopaedics and can be used wherever it is needed within the department, including to support teaching, underwrite research or provide for a new piece of equipment.

Dr. Pierce has witnessed the field advance dramatically over the decades. “Before I retired from surgery, virtual radiology was just beginning to be used,” he recalls. “I remember the first times I looked at computer screens before entering the operating room and being able to see the spine and bone fragments from every imaginable angle — it was a tremendous advancement. Better than ever, we were able to plan precisely how we were going to do the surgery and fix the spinal column.”

“No one knows how orthopaedics will continue to evolve,” he adds. “When orthopaedics receives our gift, we want it to be used where it is needed most.”