Extraordinary gifts behind the next-generation hospital

Adrian and Penny Bellamy crossed the globe to settle in America in 1983.

Although the former retail executive and his wife have been settled here ever since, they continue to move around the world for business and pleasure.

Peninsula Health caught up with the couple recently between trips to New York and London.

“I came here from South Africa to run a business that was based in Hawaii at the time, but moved to San Francisco shortly thereafter,” Adrian said during an interview at their Hillsborough home. “We’ve now lived 26 years
in this very house.”

Both Adrian and Penny grew up in Southern Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) and their home conveys the richness of their multinational experiences. Each room is infused with art and artifacts from Africa and other parts of the world, including a treasured collection of California landscapes that line the long wall of their dining room.

While Adrian was born in London, England, and moved to Africa in his early childhood, Penny’s roots are deeper in the former Southern Rhodesia.

“My grandfather was O C Rawson, who was an early pioneer there during the 1890’s, at the time of Cecil Rhodes of Rhodes Scholar fame,” Penny said. “We certainly had a very special childhood.”

The colorful varieties of African birds illustrated in paintings that fill the wall of their staircase are one of the natural wonders she grew up knowing.

“It may be hard to imagine, but those African birds really are that magnificent,” she said.

Adrian and his family immigrated to the United States when he became Chairman and CEO of DFS Group Limited, a private specialty retailer of luxury merchandise with sales of over $3 billion, 160 stores and 9,000 employees throughout North America, Asia and the Pacific Basin.

Previously he had been CEO of Edgars Stores Limited (Edcon), a public specialty retailer of apparel, shoes and home textiles in Southern Africa.

At the age of 53, after a successful career in executive management, Adrian retired to serve as non-executive director of companies, teach and make contributions to his local community.

Today at age 68, he serves on the boards of several companies – as chairman of Williams-Sonoma Inc. and Reckitt Benckiser PLC and a director of Gap Inc, and Lebelux. He has also served as a director for The Body Shop International PLC, Robert Mondavi, Gucci Group N.V. and Starbucks Corporation, among others.

One of the things Adrian enjoys most since retiring is spending more time with his wife of 47 years, his four children and eight grandchildren.

While the Bellamys’ four children were born in Africa, four of their grandchildren started life right here at Mills-Peninsula, where Adrian spent nine years on the board of the Hospital Foundation and in 2009 joined the hospital governance board.

The family has made a $1 million philanthropic gift to the $75 million campaign for the new Mills-Peninsula Medical Center – an act that was inspired by their own experiences at the hospital and the charitable ethic of American people.

“I think one of the fascinating things about America is just how generous Americans are as a nation and as individuals – way beyond anything we’ve experienced elsewhere,” Adrian said. “This appealed to us as we came to live in America and with Americans.”

The Bellamys have extended that altruistic spirit to their own children and grandchildren through a family philanthropic trust.

“We encourage them to identify areas to make contributions,” Adrian said. “As long as they tell us why it’s a good thing to do, we’ll support it. It teaches them generosity.

As Penny and Adrian were looking at places to make a significant contribution in the community, Mills-Peninsula’s new hospital was an easy choice.

“Wherever you go in the hospital, people are kind, thoughtful and helpful,” Penny said.

“They combine great skills with empathy for their patients,” Adrian added.

“When you see all these people from the roots up – volunteers and nurses to hospital administrators – all contributing, it tugs on your heart strings.”

Adrian’s experiences on the boards of Mills-Peninsula have brought him close to the new hospital project.

“What impresses me enormously are all the obstacles that had to be overcome to get the project off the ground. There were a great many people involved,” he said, “but Bob Merwin and all the people around him never gave up.”

“The result is a state-of-the-art 21st century hospital as modern as they come,” Adrian said.

“From all I’ve seen – and I can almost draw it in my mind now – it’s a place that’s very patient sensitive with all the science we could possibly need and the skill sets around it.

“We are so fortunate in this community to have a hospital of this caliber at our doorstep, and it is the people at Mills-Peninsula and the Hospital Foundation who have made that possible. We are already in the top 5 percent of hospitals in the U.S., imagine what this next step will bring.”