Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center received a generous $30 million gift this week from Andrea and Anthony Melchiorre, an investment banker. The contribution will support the new multidisciplinary, standalone cancer center under construction on the CBMC hospital campus in Livingston.

The $225 million, five-story, 137,000-square-foot Melchiorre Cancer Center at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, anticipates opening in 2025.

The gift marks the Melchiorre family’s continued generosity to the hospital. The new commitment brings total giving to nearly $50 million.

“We are incredible grateful to the Melchiorre family for this profoundly generous gift, as well as for their unwavering service to CBMC and RWJBarnabas Health,” said RWJBarnabas Health President and CEO Mark Manigan. “Through their investment, we are expanding access to cancer care across New Jersey.”

Like countless other families, the Melchiorre’s say cancer has impacted them – so this is personal.

“We know that this new cancer center, which will bring together the region’s top oncologists with best-in-class services in one dedicated setting, will bring renewed hope to people in New Jersey and throughout the region,” said Andrea and Anthony Melchiorre in a joint statement.

Expanding care

“When this new center opens in December 2025, it will serve as the northern hub for RWJBarnabas Health’s oncology services,” said CBMC President and CEO Richard David. “Thanks to donors like the Melchiorres, patients will have access to a full array of medical, surgical, and radiation oncology services under one roof.”

The cancer center marks RWJBarnabas Health’s and Rutgers Cancer Institute’s latest effort to reimagine cancer care with transformative statewide investments. RCI is the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designed Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Officials say the Melchiorre Cancer Center – as well as the Vogel Medical Campus in Monmouth County and the Jack and Sheryl Morris Cancer Center in New Brunswick – will bring together nationally recognized physicians to provide the most advanced cancer treatments and compassionate care for the communities they serve. The New Brunswick facility will establish the state’s first freestanding cancer hospital.

“RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute have created an integrated world-class network of comprehensive cancer research and care, bringing new state-of-the-art facilities such as the Melchiorre Cancer Center, close to home for patients,” said Dr. Steven Libutti, director of Rutgers Cancer Institute and senior vice president, Oncology Services, RWJBarnabas Health.

“We are extremely grateful to supporters like the Melchiorre family who are helping us transform the face of cancer – together,” Libutti said.