Jim Frost, president and owner of Frost Cutlery, has donated $2 million from his foundation to Children's Hospital at Erlanger.
The bequest was made in honor of his granddaughter, whose life was saved at Chattanooga's only pediatric hospital 12 years ago.
Frost has grown his knife and cutlery business into a multi-million dollar empire over the past 40 years and was a leader in the developing the seven-field sports facility known as Tyner Recreation Complex and the construction of a world-class softball facility, Jim Frost Stadium, at Warner Park.
He developed his relationship with Erlanger when his granddaughter, Alexis Frost, almost lost her life at the age of 15 following a massive cardiac arrest on Mother's Day 2005. The teenager's heart had gone into ventricular fibrillation, an extremely dangerous condition that can lead to sudden cardiac death. Following her 13-day stay in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and patient care floor at Children's Hospital, Alexis returned home with her heart back to its normal size and completely healed - which many considered a medical miracle at the time.
Alexis made a full recovery and was honored as one of the hospital's "2005 Miracle Kids." During the Children's Hospital's annual "Miracle Kids" recognition event and tree-lighting ceremony.
"I thank God every day for allowing me to live, and don't take anything for granted," she said at the time. "At such a young age, I've experienced a life-changing experience most people can't say they have."
Frost recently met with Erlanger representatives to formalize the agreement bequeathing the multi-million dollar gift.
"Jim is truly an example of Chattanooga's remarkable corporate leadership and the importance to 'pay it forward'," said Mary Rustic, director of major and planned giving at Erlanger. "His extremely generous and unexpected gift will be a transformational one for Children's Hospital and we cannot thank him enough."
Frost said he hopes his latest gift to Erlanger "will help improve and save the lives of many more children in the years to come."
"We are given just one life to live and what we do with it is up to us," he said.
Alexis Frost, who now lives and works in New York, returned to Chattanooga recently to visit the construction site of the new Children's Outpatient Center with her grandfather and father Stephen Frost.
"I will always be grateful to the staff at Children's for saving my life 12 years ago, and now to my grandfather for what he has done to carry on his legacy of impacting the lives of even more young people with this donation," she said.