Health care system Hackensack Meridian Health recently received a $125 million anonymous gift to expand its services at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune City. Multiple reports say the award is the largest gift ever given to a health system in New Jersey.
A prepared statement from the health care system says the anonymous donor asked that the gift honor the legacy of the late John K. Lloyd by naming a pavilion after him at the Neptune medical center.
The award will fund the system’s 10-year, $1 billion master plan, which will support the development of a new critical care tower, 24 new operating rooms, and expanded patient facilities in Neptune. The health care system recently opened a $45 million cardiovascular suite at the medical center, which it said has nearly tripled its capacity for heart and stroke care.
The health care system is also undergoing a $56 million expansion at its Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, where it is redesigning its emergency department and adding a 20-room private oncology unit.
Hackensack Meridian Health CEO Robert Garrett and Joyce Hendricks, the president and chief development officer at the Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation, said the gift will allow the health system to continue providing high-quality medical services in the state.
Garrett added that naming a pavilion after Lloyd is deeply personal due to Lloyd’s work shaping Hackensack Meridian Health.
Lloyd served as co-CEO of Hackensack Meridian from 2016 until his retirement in 2018. He was the CEO of Meridian Health before the health care system merged with Hackensack University Health Network in 2016.
Lloyd was also named president of Jersey Shore Medical Center in 1982, 15 years before he led the merger of that health care system with Ocean Medical Center and Riverview Medical Center to create Meridian Health, according to a press release from Hackensack Meridian. Southern Ocean Medical Center, Bayshore Medical Center, Raritan Bay Medical Center and Old Bridge Medical Center also became part of Meridian Health.
Hackensack Meridian’s announcement came less than a week before CEO Robert Garrett announced his own retirement. He is set to retire June 30, 2027.
Hackensack Meridian Health includes 18 hospitals, 41,000 team members, and more than 500 patient care locations in New Jersey. As of 2025, it employed 12,794 workers in Monmouth County, according to the county’s Division of Economic Development.
Hackensack Meridian reported that total revenue reached $8.8 billion in 2024 and $7.5 billion in 2023.
