The Smithfield-Luter Foundation announced in February a $5 million gift for cancer research and treatment to the University of Virginia Health System in honor of longtime Smithfield associate and director Palmer Weber.

The gift will make a significant contribution to the university’s effort to recruit an internationally recognized cancer prevention specialist and expand its cancer prevention research team. It will also help the schools find new ways to assess cancer risk, detect cancer earlier and develop individualized prevention therapies.

“We believe that UVA’s dedicated and talented faculty and staff are advancing cancer research and care, and we are proud to partner with them in the fight against this deadly disease,” said Richard J.M. Poulson, Smithfield’s executive vice president and senior adviser to the chairman, as he delivered the foundation’s first pledge payment of $1 million.

University of Virginia president John T. Casteen III said the gift would help the school reach new heights in cancer treatment and prevention strategies.

“I am grateful to the Smithfield-Luter Foundation for the many ways this gift will further our understanding of cancer and for the hope it will bring to the citizens of the commonwealth and the nation,” he said.

The gift will not only endow a professorship, but it will provide vital programmatic support for research laboratories and start-up funds for an investigative team that will use molecular profiling technologies to improve individual and public health. It is expected to lift UVA into an elite group of cancer centers capable of predicting the most effective course of treatment for individual patients.

“More precise knowledge of cancer at the molecular level will lead to better and safer care for our cancer patients,” said Arthur Garson Jr., M.D., M.P.H., vice president and dean of the School of Medicine. “Thanks to Smithfield-Luter’s generosity, UVA will be one of the first in the country and the first in Virginia to offer these services.”

Palmer Weber’s son Michael is Director of the UVA Cancer Center. Smithfield executives said that the gift was made in Weber’s honor because of the lasting impact he had on the company.

“This gift is made in memory of Palmer Weber, whose vision and foresight have been instrumental in making Smithfield Foods the company it is today,” said Poulson. “Mr. Weber’s name even today is frequently mentioned at Smithfield board meetings.”

Weber, who died in 1986, was born in Smithfield, Va. and earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees all at UVA He was a staff member on numerous congressional committees during World War II and later became the first white Southerner elected to the national board of the NAACP. Weber also lectured in philosophy and economics at UVA and had his own investment banking firm in Charlottesville. Two UVA professorships already bear his name – the F. Palmer Weber Research Professorship in Civil Liberties and Human Rights in the School of Law and the F. Palmer Weber Medical Research Professorship in the School of Medicine.

The gift is the second large donation that the Smithfield-Lute Foundation has made to a Virginia university in the past year. In October, the Foundation announced a $5 million gift to Christopher Newport University to establish the Joseph W. Luter, III School of Business and to help fund the school’s Presidential Leadership Program. In addition, the Foundation continues to fund scholarships for the children and grandchildren of Smithfield employees at Iowa State University, Johnson & Wales, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

Iowa State
Maria Croghan (Denison, IA) - Daughter of Dennis Croghan, an employee of Farmland Foods
Nicole Croghan (Denison, IA) - Daughter of Dennis Croghan, an employee of Farmland Foods
Stephanie Jacobs (Primghar, IA) - Daughter of Keith Jacobs, an employee at Pork Plus Farm
Quoc Anh Nguyen Luu (Sioux City, IA) - Daughter of Thuy Huong Nguyen, an employee of John Morrell & Co.
Lanea Naber (Primghar, IA) - Daughter of Carla Naber, an employee at Pork Plus Farm
McKenzie O’Rourke (Forest City, IA) – Daughter of Ms. Jeanine O’Rourke, an employee at John Morrell & Company – Sioux City, IA
Cole Qualheim (Denison, IA) - Son of Becky Johnson, an employee of Farmland Foods
Megan Rilling (Eagan, MN) – Granddaughter of Mr. Howard Schmuck, a retired employee of John Morrell & Company – Sioux Falls, SD

Johnson & Wales
Ann Loria (Portsmouth, VA) - Daughter of Christine Loria, an employee of Gwaltney

Virginia Tech
Todd Barrett (Suffolk, VA) – Son of Mr. Harold Barrett, Jr., an employee at Valleydale Foods – Salem, VA
Jeffrey Carter (Wallace, NC) – Son of Ms. Carol Carter, an employee at Murphy-Brown, LLC – Warsaw, NC
Erin Griffin (Smithfield, VA) - Daughter of Clay Griffin, an employee at Smithfield Foodservice Group

Wake Forest
Sarah Donaldson (Rolling Meadows, IL)
Emily Price (Nashville, NC) – Daughter of Mr. Raymond Price, an employee at Smithfield Packing – Wilson, NC