November 16, 2007

FERNANDEZ FAMILY FOUNDATION

In giving millions, he leads by example

Hispanic businessman who struggled in school urges his community to give more.


By LYDIA MARTIN


lmartin@MiamiHerald.com


Mike Fernandez, chair of MBF Healthcare Partners, a multimillion-dollar private equity firm in Coral Gables that focuses on investments in health care companies, was never a great student.


"I was one of those kids who usually had a C average.  I was a little noncompliant in school.  I had difficulty following directions and following the rules," Fernandez says.


He succeeded anyway.  In recent years, he has pledged more than $50 million to charitable causes and plans to give away another $50 million over the next few years.


He never finished college, enrolling for one semester before being drafted into the military.  Because of his experience, education is high on his list.


SCHOOLS ARE FOCUS


This fall, Fernandez gave $2.5 million to Miami's Belen Jesuit Preparatory School (the largest single gift the private school has received) to develop a program to improve the grades and study skills of students with low grade point averages.  Last year, Fernandez pledged $5 million to his alma mater, Xavier High School, a Jesuit prep school in New York City, where his family settled after leaving Cuba in 1964.  He gave $10 million to the University of Miami's business school, and another $3 million to St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens.


"I want to try to benefit kids who are callenged with learning, because I was one of those kids," Fernandez says.


But perhaps one of the biggest ways Fernandez is making a difference is by setting an example to other Hispanics.  A study by World Wealth Report found that Latin America's wealthy give only 3 percent of thier financial assets to charitable donations while Asian tycoons donate 12 percent, Americans and Middle Easterners, 8 percent and Europeans, 5 percent.


"I think the [Hispanic] community does give, but probably not as much as we could," says Fernandez, who in 2005, after selling CarePlus to Humana for $465 million, passed on $28 million to more than 1,000 employees.  Anybody who worked for CarePlus five years or longer got a year's salary.  Others got smaller bonuses.


"Some of my own friends, who don't advertise when they give, have criticized me whenever an article is written about a gift I have made.  They view it as me looking for praise or attention.  My view is that if I can set an example by giving to a worthy cause, that might lead to somebody else contributing to that cause," Fernandez says.


But he understand why first-generation immigrants might be slow to becoming philanthropic.


"The natural instinct when you come here and start to make it is to put your arms around what you have and protect it, not give it away," says Fernandez, whose donations are made through the Fernandez Family Foundation.  His older kids -- he has five, ages 3 to 29 -- help him pick recipients.


RENAMED BUILDING


It wasn't part of the agreement, but Belen Jesuit decided to honor Fernandez for his contribution by recently renaming the school's main building the Miguel B. Fernandez and Family Main Building.


"He is a visionary man who has great confidence in the things he is involved in,' says Javier Riera, Belen's director of development.


The school's new MAGIS Program, made possible by Fernandez's gift, connects students with poor academic records with regular mentoring, psychological and family assistance, and closer attention from regular teachers.  Kids in the program (there are 58 this term) stay in school an extra two hours Monday-Thursdays for tutoring and counseling.


"Initially the students were resentful of the extra hours," says Riera.  "But now they're being responsive because of how much encouragement they're receiving.  We have seen students, in our last term, who had less than a 2.0 average go to a 3.6."


Fernandez says he models his giving after the philanthropy of friends in the Jewish community.  "A lot of what I have learned about giving, I have learned from the Jewish community.  Giving is a major part of their heritage."


His parents also showed him the way.  "When I was a kid and working at the American Museum of Natural History [in New York], there was a psychiatric hospital around the corner from my house and I would buy toys for some of the kids who were there," says Fernandez, whose mother worked as a seamstress and father as a short-order cook when they first arrived in New York.


"When we first left Cuba, we went to Mexico.  And my parents would go to the airport once a week to help direct other Cubans who were coming.  They were the first example I recognize for that sense of obligation to take care of those that come after you."


CHANGE THE COURSE


Father Marcelino Garcia, Principal at Belen, says Fernandez's sense of obligation to those who come after will change the course of things for many students on shaky ground at Belen.


Fernandez has a simple wish:


"I want to be able to touch one kid and let him know how important he is and that he has a tremendous ability to accomplish anything he sets out to do."





Mike Fernandez, chairman of MBF Healthcare Partners, stands in front of his office building on Alhambra Plaza in Coral Gables.  His donations often go to schools.

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