Not surprisingly, his three children, trustees of The Vineyard Family Foundation, are continuing that tradition.
“ We like to give back to the community, and our father’ s and our own interests are children and families and making their lives better,” Lynn said.“ We did a lot of philanthropy with the Ronald McDonald House through McDonald’ s. It’ s just a joy to know that we’ re helping families.”
Their generosity and community involvement continues in Florida and Georgia and includes pediatric hospitals, autism-related organizations, youth sports, Boys & Girls Clubs, foster homes, and educational and cultural endeavors.
“ When Philip mentioned this [ College of Medicine ] opportunity, we were all for it,” Lynn added.“ It just sounded like such a wonderful thing, especially to be able to give back to FSU because it gave so much to us with our education.”
Excelling academically was not optional for the children in the home of Bruce Sr. and Susan Vineyard. All three earned graduate degrees. Not surprisingly, it provided the framework for their decision to directly support the FSU College of Medicine and its Florida Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases.
The Endowed Chair in Pediatric Medical Research will support one or more experts at the Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases, whose research and teaching are exemplary. The Endowed Professorship in Pediatrics will support a faculty member in pediatrics, including researchers, clinicians, physician-scientists and providers focused on pediatrics and pediatric rare diseases.
“ We look at this as an opportunity to jump in at the ground level,” Bruce Jr. said.“ It’ s a great, great program; something that’ s been needed for a long time. We’ re glad to be here. It’ s at the core of what the Foundation stands for.”
“ At the Ronald McDonald House, that’ s really about giving families a place to retreat, for no cost, so they can really concentrate on their children,” Philip said.“ This is the first time we’ ve really jumped into a medical research area, and especially one on the forefront... getting people on the ground floor, who teach it and research it, is a very big area for us.”
Philip completed his FSU undergraduate degree in 1991, about the time it was known as“ the No. 1 party school and played really good football.”
He is keenly aware and supportive of the university’ s mission to attain membership into the Association of American Universities( AAU). Adding a medical school in 2000, purchasing Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare in 2026— a teaching and research hospital— to complement an engineering school, the magnetic lab and other science programs which are securing significant research grants, go a long way toward AAU membership.
“ All these things that we were missing for AAU status for decades, we’ re now on the cusp of achieving,” Philip said.“ It’ s going to take the alumni a little bit more effort and to get a little deeper into their pockets— even if the pockets aren’ t quite as deep as others— in order to get the school into the AAU. Once you get into the AAU, and the grants start coming in, and the other schools around the country start taking you seriously, that’ s when the academics really start to take off. Now you’ re having serious conversations with serious people doing serious things.”
Few know that better than Pradeep Bhide, Ph. D., director of the Florida Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases.
“ The Vineyard Family Foundation’ s generosity is truly inspiring,” said Bhide.“ Philip Vineyard and his family understand that meaningful progress in pediatric medicine requires long-term investment in people, ideas and institutions. These endowments will help us attract and retain outstanding physician-scientists, educators and clinical leaders who will advance discoveries, train future generations of healthcare professionals, and improve the quality of care available to children throughout Florida and beyond.”
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