When Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas, breaks ground on its new community health center later this year, the facility will bear the name of an Atlanta entrepreneur and philanthropist.
The university received a $3 million gift toward the naming of the Sandra Joy Anderson Community Health and Wellness Center that will serve university faculty and students, along with underserved populations in central Texas. The gift, donated by Anderson’s mother and university alumna Ada Anderson, is the largest received in the history of the university.
Sandra Anderson Baccus and her husband, Lloyd Baccus, longtime Atlanta residents and notable members of the city’s business and civic communities, founded several health care and energy companies. They included Correctional Medical Associates Inc., which provided medical and mental health services at the Fulton County jail for 25 years, and Baccus Enterprises, which invested in solar and other renewable energy sources. The couple also developed Lottery Services of Georgia, a firm that services Georgia’s lottery and voting machines.
Along with her business ventures, Sandra Anderson Baccus was a fundraiser for several civic projects, including leading a campaign that raised more than $1 million for the High Museum. She died in February 2012.
Huston-Tillotson, a historically black university, plans to begin operating a temporary facility by June while fundraising continues for the $35 million permanent Anderson health center. The private liberal arts institution currently enrolls almost 1,000 students.
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