# Lucille P. Markey

Source: https://onco.cc/people/lucille-markey/  
OnCo record `lucille-markey` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

In the late 1970s the owner of Calumet Farm approved a $1 million gift, the first of many, and in 1983 the Lucille Parker Markey Cancer Center was founded in her name in Lexington.

## Summary

Lucille Parker Markey (1896-1982) owned Calumet Farm, the Thoroughbred breeding and training operation in Lexington whose horses won the Kentucky Derby eight times. The University of Kentucky's account records that in the late 1970s the Markey Cancer Foundation approached her and she approved a $1 million donation, the first of many gifts she would make, and that in 1983 the Lucille Parker Markey Cancer Center was founded. The centre serves Kentucky and central Appalachia, a region with some of the highest cancer incidence and mortality in the United States, and became an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centre. After her death the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust spent its entire endowment on biomedical research within fifteen years, an unusual and studied decision in philanthropy.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Tags: hero; donor
- Role: Calumet Farm owner whose gifts founded the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center
- Specialisms: Cancer centre founding; Appalachian cancer care

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_P._Markey
- UK Markey Cancer Center: about: https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/markey-cancer-center/about

## Connected records

- institutions: [Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky](https://onco.cc/institutions/kentucky-markey/)
- bottlenecks: [Funding follows fashion, not burden](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-funding-allocation/), [Most of the world has almost no cancer care](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-global-access/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/lucille-markey.json