In Los Angeles, a town infamous for style over substance and displays of conspicuous consumption, Susanne and Ervin Bard stood apart. They were hardworking and humble, living modestly and finding joy in the simple act of being together every day. Their utter lack of pretension gave little indication that they had amassed a vast fortune—or that Cedars-Sinai would be the sole beneficiary of an astonishing bequest worth nearly $150 million.

“When I learned about the amount of the gift, I was absolutely stunned,” recalled Arthur Ochoa, JD, Cedars-Sinai’s senior vice president of Advancement and chief advancement officer. “These were people who started out their adult lives with nothing. The thought that this beautiful, unassuming couple, who did not live large in any way, would go all in for Cedars-Sinai—it’s the only time in my 22 years here that I’ve actually been moved to tears.”

The Bards had a quintessentially American success story. Both born in Hungary, both shaped by the horrors of World War II (with the exception of his sister, Gabriella, Ervin's entire family was murdered at Auschwitz), they immigrated, separately, to the United States in search of a better life. Six months after meeting and marrying in New York in 1954, Ervin and Susanne decided to move again, this time to the shores of sunny Southern California.

In Los Angeles, their relationship flourished and their business thrived. Ervin went to work as an insurance agent, saving enough to buy some property. As his investments gained in value, he left the insurance world behind, eventually focusing full-time on real estate, with spectacular results.

While they were building their portfolio, the Bards were also getting to know their local community. Cedars-Sinai was an institution that took on particular importance as Susanne’s parents, who had followed their daughter and son-in-law to Los Angeles, grew older and required medical assistance.

“The doctors at Cedars-Sinai took excellent care of Susanne’s mother and father, and the Bards were extremely grateful,” said their friend Lynda Bernstein Metzger, who spent over a decade raising funds for the medical center and who developed a close bond with Ervin and Susanne.

That gratitude translated into a gift in honor of their parents and a commitment to volunteer service.

“Susanne worked on the eighth floor once a week, helping family members who were visiting patients in for surgery. She was so proud of her blue volunteer jacket!” Metzger said.

One testament to the couple's disarming, down-to-earth sensibility, Metzger recalled, was Susanne’s fondness for the hospital cafeteria’s pizza. “She’d bring slices home every Wednesday night for her and Ervin’s dinner!” she said.

Metzger noted that to spend time with the Bards was to bask in the reflected glow of their devotion to one another. “In addition to being such humble people, they had this incredible, truly wonderful love affair,” she said. “It was always a pleasure just to be around them.”

As they got to know Cedars-Sinai better, the Bards felt even more tied to the organization, a feeling that was reciprocated by medical center staff. “We had a deep, personal connection and really thought of each other as family,” Ochoa said.

The Bards, who had no children, were exploring ways to solidify that relationship with a significant gift in 2006 when Ervin became ill. His passing left a hole in Susanne’s life, but her Cedars-Sinai support system stepped in. “It was my honor to work with the rabbi and Susanne to organize Ervin’s funeral. She was a regular guest at Cedars-Sinai events. We would host birthday parties for her, and the staff would come,” Metzger said.

In 2008, intent on carrying through with their plans to help advance Cedars-Sinai’s mission, Susanne made a seven-figure gift to name the Susanne and Ervin Bard Founders Room on Cedars-Sinai’s campus, a space used for small gatherings and philanthropy-focused events.

“I cannot express what it means to me to make this gift in my husband’s memory,” she said at the time. “Somehow, it brings Ervin close to me, and I’m reminded that we did this together.”

Around that same time, she made it known that she was leaving Cedars-Sinai their entire estate.

“We had no idea what that would entail; the Bards were so low-key that there was no reason to believe the value of the estate gift would be so extraordinary,” Ochoa said.

During subsequent years, Susanne’s health declined, and she passed away in March 2021.

Cedars-Sinai received proceeds from the Bards’ estate in 2021 and 2022. Theirs is the largest single gift—and the biggest legacy gift—in Cedars-Sinai's history, and the Advanced Health Sciences Pavilion has been renamed in their honor. It is now the Susanne and Ervin Bard Pavilion.

For Ochoa, the Bards’ generosity is an affirmation of the tremendous good Cedars-Sinai does in the community and a charge to raise the bar even higher.

“What could be a bigger vote of confidence than leaving your life’s earnings to a single institution for unrestricted purposes?” he said. “That’s an act of trust and love, and we endeavor to be worthy of it every day.”