Raleigh man donates $1 million to Hospice of Wake County

The gift from Reid S. Towler was the largest in the organization's history, said Mike Blanchard, the hospice's vice president of development.

“It seems like every time I read obituaries in the newspaper, there is always someone I know who has passed away, and they praise the services of hospice," Towler said in a statement. "I see how Hospice of Wake County takes care of people, and I wanted to help in any way I could.”

Blanchard said that the new hospice home will be named the Reid S. Towler Campus. The $14.5 million campus will also house an administrative center, the Horizons Grief Center and a 50-seat sanctuary.

A former student of Broughton High School, Towler served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II, graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and had a career with an insurance company, New England Mutual of Boston.