Southfield-based Corewell Health in Southeast Michigan today announced it has received a $15-million bequest from the estate of Harry Kirk Denler to make a game-changing impact on leukemia research.
The gift will go toward supporting investigations into enhanced diagnosis, treatments, and cures for pediatric and adult leukemia, led by Corewell Health’s Research Institute in Royal Oak.
“All of us at Corewell Health are profoundly appreciative of the kindness of Harry Kirk Denler who chose to include us in his estate plan and give a gift of such magnitude — all to promote the kind of research that will change and save lives,” says Lamont Yoder, a registered nurse and president of Corewell Health East. “It is a testament to his generosity of spirit and desire to change the world for the better.”
Harry Kirk Denler passed away in 2002 from leukemia at what is today known as Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital in Royal Oak. After providing support for his late wife, Barbara Miriani Denler, who passed away in 2023, the remainder of the estate came to Corewell Health in Southeast Michigan this year.
“We are deeply grateful to the late Harry Kirk Denler for his remarkable generosity and compassionate commitment to helping others,” says Ryan Daly, president of the Corewell Health Foundation Southeast Michigan. “This gift will transform leukemia research and will improve the lives of patients at Corewell Health and beyond who have battled this devastating disease.”
Ben Robinson, Denler’s cousin once removed, stated, “Kirk wanted to make this gift because of the care he received. He didn’t have children, and he wanted his wife cared for. But after that, he wanted the rest of his estate to go to the William Beaumont University Hospital. It was an aspirational gift. He wanted to help find a cure for leukemia so that others would not have to suffer from what he went through.”
Robinson remembers Denler as a “great connector,” someone who was an only child but came from a large extended family and made it his mission to hold them close.
A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, he never practiced and instead managed real estate in southeast Michigan and northern Ohio. He lived in Palmer Park in Detroit, in the home he grew up in, and was an active member of both the Detroit Golf Club and the Detroit Athletic Club.
Denler’s compassion and generosity toward others will make an immediate difference for the physicians and scientists at Corewell Health’s Research Institute.
“This gift is contributing significantly to the future of Corewell Health cancer research,” says Dr. Richard Kennedy, senior scientific director for the Research Institute. “We will focus our efforts initially on pediatric leukemia, because much of that framework is in place and then transition into adult leukemia and eventually, the transitional phases between pediatric and adult leukemia.”
This contribution will cover the full spectrum of investigation into a devastating disease that affects more than 500,000 Americans who are currently living with or in remission from the condition.
“We are profoundly grateful for this support and will do our best to honor the hope and spirit in which Mr. Denler’s commitment was made,” says Kennedy.
