Frank and Carol
MORSANI
The name adorns many arts, health and
education buildings around Tampa: Frank
and Carol Morsani Hall at University of
Tampa, Morsani Lobby at the Tampa
Museum of Art, laboratories at Mof tt
Cancer Center and the medical center at
University of South Florida. At The Straz,
we have Carol Morsani Hall as the result
of a philanthropic gift that doubled our
endowment at the time.
Sit with the down-home, shrewd and
mirthful Frank Morsani for ten minutes,
and
you’ll realize his name around town has
nothing to do with elevating his brand.
From his nondescript of ce location in
a bank of townhome-style of ces a few
miles off the interstate, Morsani spoke
candidly about how and why he and
Carol give so much of their wealth back
to organizations helping Tampa. “Hey,
I’m 87 years old. I always thought you
were supposed to contribute to society
no matter what your nancial resources
were. Before we had any money, we
both taught Sunday school. Carol was a
homeroom mother. There was no single
motivational experience to convince us
to give. Give back to your community.
That’s the way we were raised, that’s
just what you were supposed to do,”
he says.
“USF named it the Morsani
School of Medicine
without asking me,”
he says, laughing. “So,
we certainly didn’t do
that to get our names
on the building.” After
a pause of re ection,
he
adds, “You know, what
would the Ford or Carnegie
Foundation
be if they
were named
something
else?
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Profi les in
Philanthropy