Commerce Bank CEO, wife give $10M to Penn for vet school

Vernon W. Hill II, founder of Commerce Bancorp Inc., has donated $10 million to the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

The money will go toward building a $70 million teaching and research facility currently under construction at 38th Street and Woodland Avenue in University City. The five-story, 123,974-square-foot building will be named the Vernon and Shirley Hill Pavilion. The building is the first new teaching facility that the veterinary school has constructed in 40 years.

"We're desperately in need of it," said Dr. Alan Kelly, dean of the school.

The building will have surgery centers, teaching, research and lab space as well as a vivarium (an enclosure where animals can be studied in natural conditions). It is scheduled to be completed next fall.

The donation by the Hills is the single largest gift that the couple has made. Hill is president and chairman of Cherry Hill-based Commerce Bank. He is a member of the vet school's board and a graduate of Penn's Wharton School of Business.

The decision to make such a large donation came easily. It came from a desire to give back and to support the vet school.

"It's the very best veterinary school in the world," Hill said. "It's an unsung jewel in the Philadelphia area."

Hill hopes the new classroom and research facility will help the school's branding and recognition.

Hill never had a pet until he and his wife got Duffy, a Yorkshire terrier, who has not needed treatment at the vet school.

"People tell me I have a $10 million dog now," he joked.

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