Pharmacist donates $2 million to Buffalo hospice

The estate of a longtime owner and operator of a Buffalo pharmacy has donated $2 million to a local hospice.

According to report by radio station WBFO, the money was received from the estate of William Bender, who died in May at age of 92. Bender was the owner and operator of Rozek's Pharmacy on Genesee Street in Buffalo. A World War II veteran, Bender was a 1943 graduate of University of Buffalo’s' School of Pharmacy.

"It certainly is a wonderful surprise. We were absolutely thrilled to hear the news," Patrick Flynn, president of the Hospice Foundation of Western New York told WBFO.

Flynn said Bender was familiar with the work of hospice both through his job as a pharmacist and by care provided to his wife.

"What he witnessed over the years was many of his customers availing themselves of Hospice services,” Flynn said. “When it came time when his wife got ill back in 2001, he called upon Hospice Buffalo to provide services to her."

The donation will be part of funds used to renovate a main clinical building and inpatient unit at the Center for Hospice & Palliative Care in Cheektowaga, N.Y. The clinical building will be named for Bender and his wife.