Former Gilead Sciences boss John C. Martin, who passed away on Tuesday, had a $8 million connection with Calcutta, where his money helped set up a liver hospital that caters to underprivileged people.
Martin, who died at the age of 70, was an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist who had served Gilead Sciences, a biopharmaceutical major, as the CEO from 1996 to 2016 and the company’s chairman from 2008 to 2019.
He had donated $3 million to set up the Indian Institute of Liver and Digestive Sciences at Sonarpur, on the southern fringes of the city.
He had also pledged another $5 million to build a research centre at the institute.