SEQUIM — The Thomas family’s naming rights contract with Olympic Medical Cancer Center, which has been called the Thomas Family Sequim Cancer Center since it opened in April 2007, was canceled under a mutual agreement, OMC’s chief executive officer said.
“I think for the future, we might look for a new donor for the cancer center building,” Eric Lewis said.
“Rand and Darlene Thomas were very generous for the first six years,” he added.
“It kind of ran its course, and they were very generous.
“We just mutually agreed to cancel the agreement.”
The agreement ends April 30.
The facility will revert to its original name, Olympic Medical Cancer Center, hospital officials said.
Rand Thomas is a cancer survivor. Both of his parents died of the disease.
His wife, Darlene, cared for him while he was undergoing chemotherapy treatment, and their encounters with cancer motivated them to help make an expanded cancer center in Sequim a reality.
Attempts to contact Rand Thomas, former president and co-founder of Thomas Building Center, were unsuccessful.
Mutual decision
Bruce Skinner, director of Olympic Medical Center Foundation, said it was a mutual decision between Rand Thomas, the foundation and OMC “after six years of generous sponsorship.
“Rand has been a big supporter of the hospital and the foundation for over 20 years, and we deeply appreciate that.”
The foundation is the charitable fundraising arm of OMC, originally a voter-approved hospital district, which owns and operates health care facilities in Port Angeles and Sequim.
The Thomases were one of three cancer center benefactors.
The Thomas family pledged $300,000 to the foundation in 2006 at about the same time that Sequim businessman Bill Littlejohn and family pledged $150,000 and Carlsborg-based Primo Construction another $150,000.
For their donations, they received naming rights to the Olympic Medical Cancer Center and its two wings at 844 N. Fifth Ave.
Its branches were named the Littlejohn Radiation and Oncology Wing and the Primo Construction Medical Oncology Wing.
Rand Thomas, who founded Thomas Building Center in 1972 with his father, Vern, and mother, Fran, has been a prominent Sequim philanthropist and was named the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce 1995 Citizen of the Year.
Bill and Esther Littlejohn are longtime supporters of the Olympic Medical Center Foundation and many other local charities.
The Littlejohns have given more than $3.5 million to charities, including a donation toward building the Littlejohn Radiation and Oncology Wing at the Olympic Medical Cancer Center, as well as money to Olympic Theatre Arts, the Helen Haller Elementary School playground fund and the Littlejohns’ scholarship fund.
They also placed a conservation easement on 40 acres of Sequim farmland — valued at more than $3 million — to be preserved forever.
Bill Littlejohn now is owner and president of Thomas Building Center, which he acquired last year.
Besides Thomas Building Center, the Littlejohns’ holdings include Olympic Ambulance Service, Sherwood Assisted Living and The Fifth Avenue and The Lodge at Sherwood Village retirement homes in Sequim.
The cancer center includes medical oncology — chemotherapy and infusion services — which Olympic Medical Center previously offered only in Port Angeles.
Cancer center
The original $5 million, 10,300 square-foot cancer center, which included radiation oncology and a resource library, opened in May 2003.
The Primo Construction Medical Oncology Wing added 6,400 square feet at a cost of $2.5 million.
As a result of the addition, the cancer center now offers infusion services, chemotherapy, pharmacy and dietary services besides radiation treatment.
Greg and Chuck Parrish and Jim Bartee own Primo Construction Co.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2390 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
