Baltimore Sun’s 2023 Business and Civic Hall of Fame honorees: Michael and Patricia Batza
When Kennedy Krieger Institute was searching for a new president and CEO in the 1980s, Michael and Patricia Batza, who have long been affiliated with the Baltimore-based medical institution serving young people with developmental and neurological needs, opened their home to a candidate who was flown in for an interview. (Gary W. Goldstein was, incidentally, hired — and lasted more than 30 years on the job.) The unusual move was typical of the kind of outreach and personal commitment the Batzas are known for as one of the region’s most respected philanthropic families.
For Goucher College, Mercy Medical Center, the National Aquarium and many others, the Batzas have been a fundraising force, without pretense or condition. They are known for their graciousness, for their warmth and for their ability to help charitable institutions receive the support they need in their important missions.
“They are the exemplar of perfect philanthropists. They really are,” says Kent Devereaux, president of Goucher College. “Some donors want their names on buildings. Or they want strings attached, so it’s really only for certain students. Mike and Pattie aren’t that way at all. They ask, ‘What do you need?’ Then they step out of the way — as they look for ways to inspire others to give, too.”
At Mercy Medical Center, Sister Helen Amos, the hospital’s president and CEO from 1992 to 1999, learned of Mr. Batza’s reputation from his efforts on behalf of the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore. So she asked him in the late 1990s, after he’d joined Mercy’s board, if he could please help the downtown hospital launch its first capital campaign. He wrote out some ideas on the back of a paper napkin. “Here’s how you start,” she recalls him telling her. From that modest beginning came a Mercy Society where donors would be expected to give $1,000 each year. Mr. Batza wrote a check for $10,000. By the end of the first capital campaign, Mercy had raised more than $40 million, money that would allow the Sisters of Mercy to expand, build a new hospital tower, offer more services and create a “community of compassionate care.”
“I feel like when I convinced him to be on our board, I hit the jackpot,” says Amos, who is a member of The Sun’s first Hall of Fame class and still serves as executive chair of Mercy’s board of trustees. “Mike has proven himself to be a true leader.”
At the National Aquarium, the Batzas have been helping lead fundraising efforts for more than two decades. A 1,087-square-foot stainless steel kitchen added in 2018 to the National Aquarium’s Animal Care and Rescue Center on East Fayette Street is among their most high-profile contributions. “It would be the envy of any home, except it doesn’t have ovens as our chief constituents don’t like their food cooked,” says John Racanelli, the National Aquarium’s president and CEO, adding that the Batzas’ “giving reflects a love of humans, too.”
The couple’s charitable work began with modest roots. Mrs. Batza was raised in Warren, Ohio; Mr. Batza was born in Derby, Connecticut, but grew up on Long Island. Both moved to Chicago, where they met and eventually married, moving to Baltimore in 1969. One of Mr. Batza’s big breaks was co-founding Meridian Healthcare, a nursing home provider that was bought out by Genesis Health Ventures Inc. for more than $200 million in 1993. After the sale, Mr. Batza was able to start Heritage Properties, a real estate development firm that has developed and managed more than 6 million square feet of projects, including offices, warehouses and mixed-use facilities. But charity was always part of the family dynamic, even before they had the resources to supercharge capital campaigns. And now, their children and grandchildren are following in their footsteps.
The Batzas giving philosophy?
“We look for things that fit our ideals about impact on community and family,” Mrs. Batza says. “We really have to believe in the purpose and the mission, the vision. And then, when we feel strongly, we kind of throw ourselves into it and do our very best.”
The family’s involvement in Kennedy Krieger, for example, traces how their own daughter Meggan was helped at the institute (she now works there as an assistant librarian). At Meridian, Mr. Batza and his partners were firm about how the long-term welfare of residents outweighed the quarterly balance sheet, and took what was once a public company private in a reverse leveraged buyout. “As a private company, we could be more involved in the community,” he recalls. Looking out for family and, by extension, the community where family members live, is simply built into their DNA. Even business partners and their families are part of the Batza family, something about which they are quite proud.
Education is also a constant theme in the Batza charitable ventures. Mr. Batza is a longtime supporter of his alma mater, Colgate University, and served on its board for 15 years and even now serves as a trustee emeritus. Together, the Batzas have co-chaired the Goucher capital campaign “Transcending Boundaries,” exceeding goals the school had set. They are also always looking to help underserved communities, particularly in Baltimore. “I think the cause has to fit into our ideals about impact on the community and on family,” Mrs. Batza says. “We really have to believe in the purpose and the mission, the vision. And then if we feel strongly, we kind of throw ourselves into it and do our very best.”
“They are such real people. They are like an open book,” marvels Nancy Grasmick, the former Maryland superintendent of schools and a Hall of Fame 2016 class member, who has known them for decades. “They are just warm and interactive and caring. They are Baltimore treasures.”
Michael and Patricia Batza
Ages: 81 and 78, respectively
Hometowns: Derby, Connecticut, and Warren, Ohio
Current residence: Towson
Education: Mr. Batza earned a B.A. in economics from Colgate University; Mrs. Batza earned a B.A. in philosophy from Goucher College
Career highlights: Mr. Batza is a co-founder of Meridian Health Care and owner and chairman of Heritage Properties Inc.; Mrs. Batza is president of the Batza Family Foundation
Civic and charitable activities: Mr. Batza is a trustee and past chairman of Kennedy Krieger Institute, a trustee with Mercy Medical Center as well as Mercy Ridge, chairman of the Batza Family Foundation, and board member and past chairman of the board of the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Mrs. Batza has been a trustee with Goucher College since 1997, serving a variety of positions with the school, including national co-chair of the Campaign for Goucher. She has served as a board member for the Institute of Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies; Marian House; and Historic Hampton, and on the advisory boards of the Center for Women’s Health and Medicine at Mercy Medical Center and the Notre Dame of Maryland University, among others. The couple received the John Franklin Goucher Award in 2013 and were named “Philanthropists of the Year” by the United Way of Central Maryland in 1998
Family: Three children; six grandchildren
