As Tim Richardson walked through the glass-door entrance of the Methodist University Cape Fear Valley Health School of Medicine (SOM) recently, he stopped almost immediately to admire the progress that has been made in the construction of the new $65-million, state-of-the-art facility that will be completed in the next few months. It has taken the efforts, talents, and contributions of hundreds to make the dream a reality.
As Tim Richardson walked through the glass-door entrance of the Methodist University Cape Fear Valley Health School of Medicine (SOM) recently, he stopped almost immediately to admire the progress that has been made in the construction of the new $65-million, state-of-the-art facility that will be completed in the next few months. It has taken the efforts, talents, and contributions of hundreds to make the dream a reality.
Just moments later, Richardson – who is senior vice president, manager of commercial banking at First Citizens Bank – presented a symbolic check representing a monumental contribution of $500,000 from First Citizens to the SOM. The check was presented in the lobby of the SOM to Founding Dean Hershey Bell, MD, and MU’s Vice President for Institutional Advancement & Senior Counsel Greg Swanson along with Emily Holder, First Citizens’ Senior Philanthropy Program Administrator.
“In Southeastern North Carolina, we live in a doctor desert,” said Richardson. “This medical school will profoundly enhance the region and positively transform the community’s economic landscape to levels never before imagined. For nearly 100 years, First Citizens has proudly served this community as an active, supportive banking partner and community citizen. This contribution is another way we can help significantly improve the communities where we live and work for years to come.”
The new SOM is scheduled to open the doors for its first cohort of students in July of 2026, and Bell knows how impactful a gift such as this will have on those in the school, community, and region.
“We are so grateful for this gift from First Citizens because bringing a medical school to Fayetteville and Southeastern North Carolina is a huge undertaking,” he said. “This gift is going to help us provide state-of-the-art education for medical students who are going to be future doctors in this region. This gift will help support the technology, so we are on the forefront of what is going on in medical education. It’s also going to support the recruitment of top-notch faculty from all across the country. This gift is a godsend when it comes to establishing a medical school in our region.”
As Methodist University President Stanley T. Wearden has said many times over the past few years about the SOM, “the focus of this medical school on rural and underserved populations is a perfect match for MU’s service-focused mission, and the focus on a health-systems approach to medical education fits well with our longstanding liberal arts tradition.”
Richardson knows the excellence of an MU education well, serving on several committees over the years and the University’s Board of Trustees (of which he is currently the chair).
“I get to see all the great things MU does not only for its students, but also the community,” he said. “It’s an economic engine and the medical school is a continued driver in that economic engine.”