Legacy Society member
Phillip Capozzi, Jr.
“Giving back is the most gratifying and philanthropic way of saying thank you for my health and the life I love! And more amazing is how generous giving has a way of coming back to you many times over,” Capozzi explained. “And the Upstate Foundation has the expertise to support my desire to give back.”
A young Phillip Capozzi Jr., dreamed of being a doctor. A pre-med student with the goal of becoming a surgeon, he couldn’t gain admission to medical school, so he turned to commercial real estate. He worked successfully in this profession for more than a decade. Fast forward two decades later, Dr. Capozzi is leaving a legacy gift to the Upstate Foundation to endow a professorship in the department of urology at Upstate Medical University.
He was 39 when he had a fateful conversation with Dr. Zahi Makhuli and his wife Marion at a restaurant one evening. Makhuli, a prominent urologist at Upstate University Hospital, and Marion encouraged Capozzi to pursue his dream and reapply to medical school, which he did. Shortly thereafter, he packed up and left for New York Medical College in Westchester County.
He returned to Syracuse as a physician, completing his residency at Upstate Medical University in anesthesiology and practicing in the area for 20 years. Fate again intervened when his good friend and doctor ordered a biopsy of the prostate following a routine exam, and Makhuli told Capozzi he had a very aggressive tumor. Capozzi once again followed Makhuli’s advice when he was referred to Dr. Gennady Bratslavsky for surgery.
“Dr. Bratslavsky has gone above and beyond for me as his patient. I am eternally grateful for the medical care provided,” Capozzi said of the professor and chair of the Department of Urology at Upstate. “Creating the endowed professorship is a way I can show my gratitude.”
Eileen Pezzi, vice president for development at Upstate, recalled explaining to Capozzi how to structure a gift to name an endowed professorship in Bratslavsky’s honor.
“The decision to fund an endowed professorship is an important one,” Pezzi said. “We are humbled that Dr. Capozzi has chosen the Upstate Foundation and Upstate Medical University for this significant support of our mission.”
Pezzi added that in the three years since making his legacy gift, Capozzi’s relationship with the Upstate Foundation has deepened to the point where he is now serving on its board of directors.
Interested in Legacy Giving?
For more information about ways to create your own personal Legacy, contact your financial advisor or call Carolyn Hendrickson, director of legacy giving at the Upstate Foundation, at 315-464-6490, or complete Please contact me form below.