SPRINGFIELD — Brad Pitt and his family have donated $1 million to a Missouri hospital to open a new pediatric cancer center.
Pitt and his siblings' families, Doug and Lisa Pitt and Rob and Julie Neal, gave the money to St. John's Hospital on Saturday in honor of their mother's passion for children's issues.
The Jane Pitt Pediatric Cancer Center in Springfield is expected to open this summer.
The new center is also expected to make St. John's one of six affiliates of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. That would allow the center to participate in St. Jude's clinical research trials.
The donation is expected to pay to hire the region's only pediatric oncologist and hematologist.
The Pitt family grew up in southwest Missouri.