The family of convicted drunk driver Marco Muzzo has an agreement to contribute to a $15-million donation to build a new hospital in Vaughan.
The Mckenzie Vaughan Hospital is scheduled to be completed in late 2020 and when it opens, the west wing of the building will be named the 'De Gasperis-Muzzo Tower,' after the families behind this new contribution.
Mckenzie Health says the $15 million donation is the largest single donation in the organization's history.
"The De Gasperis and Muzzo families have been long-time supporters of Mckenzie Health, as they have been to many other community charities in this region," says Mckenzie Health Foundation CEO Ingrid Perry.
"We're proud to have them as part of our group of donors ... it makes a world of difference in bringing care to the hundreds of thousand of people who need it in this community," she says.
Perry points out that the Muzzo family has been donating to charities in York Region and across the GTA for decades, adding that they are frequent donors to local hospitals.
She adds that plans for the record-setting gift have been in the works for roughly 3 years, well before the infamous incident that thrust the family name into the headlines.
Dozens of listeners reached out to NEWSTALK 1010 on Thursday to voice their concerns over the notorious name having a place of prominence in the community.
Marco Muzzo, the grandson of the man who founded the family's billion-dollar construction business, is responsible for the crash that killed Jennifer Neville-Lake's father, and her 3 young children.
NEWSTALK 1010 reached out to the Mayor of Vaughan to talk about the reaction in the community, but was told he was not immediately available.
We asked the Mayor of Vaughan for an interview to talk about the Muzzo family hospital donation. Maurizio Bevilacqua's office sent us this: pic.twitter.com/ZbJBYOg9ua
— NEWSTALK1010 (@NEWSTALK1010) August 17, 2017
Officials with Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada say they have no comment on the move to name the hospital after the Muzzo's, or the message it might send about impaired driving.
Marco Muzzo was sentenced to 10 years in prison, after pleading guilty to impaired driving causing death and of impaired driving causing bodily harm, in a crash in Vaughan in September of 2015.
The crash killed three young Neville-Lake children, Daniel, 9, Harrison, 5, Milly, 2, and their grandfather, Gary Neville, 65.