Bill and Marie Pastore want to make the world a better place by donating to charities and projects that are delivering real transformation they can actually see. They strongly believe in NCH’s vision to do just that.
“Our family immigrated to America from Italy with nothing and were very hard-working people,” explains Bill. “When they had extra, they gave to the church, the March of Dimes, whatever they could. We learned as teenagers from that good example of how we should live and help our community. We see the need for this in Naples, so all the hard-working people here can get the best healthcare possible.”
They are passionate about NCH’s transformation toward comprehensive, top-quality care, with recent achievements like the award-winning Rooney Heart Institute and the new partnership with the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) to bring the No. 1 orthopedics-care organization to Southwest Florida.
The Pastores were childhood sweethearts growing up in Brooklyn and quickly followed their parents’ industrious example. Bill worked his way up to being a leader at major companies, including an executive at Citibank, the president of Cigna Healthcare, and CEO of Monster Worldwide. Because Bill ran consumer businesses, he is extremely focused on the true benefits of donations to customers or patients. Marie assisted execs at the ABC television network, worked for Equifax, and sold real estate. They raised two daughters who now help steer the family’s charitable foundation and still learn their parents’ lessons about business-oriented philanthropy that shows results.
The Pastores began donating to NCH 12 years ago as members of the Medical Diplomats Council. Additional giving followed, including for the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for babies, the downtown NCH Baker Hospital emergency-department renovation, and a significant estate gift. Once, it was as simple as providing replacement furniture when they saw some that really needed an upgrade during a visit by Bill as an orthopedic patient.
“We’re so passionate about helping people in our community,” says Marie. “We need to do this and hope we can get more donors to participate. Give back if you can.”
