$5 Million Korff Estate Gift to Advance Prostate Cancer Research and Treatments in Nebraska

Providing the best treatment for prostate cancer and furthering research into one of the most common cancers among men is the focus of a $5 million gift to the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center from the estate of Nebraska native Glenn Korff.

After skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the United States and is the second leading cause of death from cancer in men. In Nebraska, it’s the third most diagnosed cancer behind breast and lung. While a serious disease, 77 percent of Nebraska prostate cancer cases are diagnosed at an early stage of disease, providing opportune time for successful treatment options.

Leading the era of precision medicine – basing diagnosis and treatments on the genetics of an individual – the Korff estate gift establishes the Glenn Korff Precision Medicine Prostate Cancer Center of Excellence Fund at the University of Nebraska Foundation. In honor of Korff, who died in 2013 from complications of prostate cancer, the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center will name a floor in his honor within the new cancer center’s Suzanne and Walter Scott Cancer Research Tower.

Over the years, Korff expressed gratitude for the education he received at the University of Nebraska by giving of his time through various volunteer positions as a trustee of the University of Nebraska Foundation, including his service on an investment committee. He and his family have also made generous philanthropic investments in the university. Korff established a permanent endowment in 2013 to provide annual support for the Glenn Korff School of Music at UNL’s Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts. His estate established an endowment in 2014 to provide ongoing support for Broadway productions at the university’s Lied Center for Performing Arts in Lincoln.

Korff and his brother, Ken Korff, made a major gift to support the UNL College of Business Administration’s new building currently under construction with a gift to name an auditorium in honor of their father, NU alumnus Paul Korff. The Korffs also created the Paul W. and Esther L. Korff Family Fund and the Richard D. Brenning Memorial Scholarship Fund for the university.