Asbury Park native, filmmaker, actor and comedian Danny DeVito donated $500,000 to advance health care at Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center.
The hospital says the gift will provide support through the Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center Foundation, and provide a core source of funding for the medical center’s most urgent needs for patients today and in the future.
DeVito was born at the former Raleigh Fitkin-Paul Morgan Memorial Hospital, now Jersey Shore University Medical Center, and grew up in Asbury Park. He is widely known for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series Taxi, which won him a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award. He plays Frank Reynolds in the FX and FXX sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. DeVito is also the star of Jersey Mike’s Subs commercials.
“I always praised the place I was born,” DeVito said. “We lived on Second Avenue in Asbury. Whenever we needed it, it was here for us,” he said of the hospital.
“We are so grateful to Danny DeVito for his confidence and support in the high-quality innovative care we provide at Jersey Shore University Medical Center,” said Robert C. Garrett, FACHE, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health. “Danny truly understands the powerful impact that philanthropy has on health care, and for him to give back to the community where he grew up – and to the hospital he was born at – means so much. With his support, we can continue our mission to transform health care and be a leader of positive change in New Jersey.”
