The hospital was dedicated to the man who helped spearhead the project, H. The work took several years, with the finishing touches put on the research in 1986. In 1983 the groundbreaking ceremony commenced as the 162 bed, 70-million-dollar facility began its construction. However, success came in part during the spring of 1980, when the USF Board of Regents received a grant of $600,000 dollars to conduct a study to see if a cancer research hospital was needed in Florida. Moffitt asked for $37.5 million from the Florida Legislature to fund the hospital, but Governor Bob Graham vetoed the request. Moffitt knew that having a cancer center in Tampa would benefit the local community and the greater Florida area, but support was hard to find, and concerns arose over the cost of the facility and how it would be paid for. Lee Moffitt, a graduate of the University of South Florida and member of the Florida House of Representatives, proposed a remedy to this issue: a new cancer research center located at the University of South Florida. Despite this, there were no cancer hospitals easily accessible to residents of the Southeast United States. In 1980, Florida had the highest rate of cancer in the nation. So I resolved at that point in my life that I was going to make every effort to see that a major cancer center was established in our state." -H Lee Moffitt Text (but) there was no first class major cancer center in our area. "It just troubled me back then that Florida was the seventh largest state.
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