The University of North Carolina Wilmington received a new $1 million gift to fund an endowed professorship focusing on combating cancer, which will kill an estimated 577,190 Americans this year.

The gift, made by members of the Brewer and Boddie families of eastern North Carolina, establishes the Lucy Ann Boddie Brewer Distinguished Professorship in Oncological Nursing at the UNCW School of Nursing. It is the school’s third distinguished professorship established during the university’s fundraising campaign.

The distinguished professorship will help the university develop an oncology program for nursing students that will further cancer research, healthcare and education in both southeastern North Carolina and the nation. UNCW School of Nursing director James McCann said that the new professorship will enhance the basic oncology skills and knowledge of undergraduate students and will increase research opportunities for graduate students.

“I am very grateful to the Brewer and Boddie families for establishing this distinguished professorship at UNCW. They have provided our School of Nursing with much-needed resources to support the work of a faculty expert in the critical field of oncological nursing,” said UNCW Chancellor Gary L. Miller in a press release.

The gift is named in honor of Lucy Ann Brewer, who died of cancer in 1994, by her husband, Joe Brewer Jr., her daughters, Lee Brewer Garrett and Lucy Brewer Wheeless and Lucy Wheeless’ husband Steve Wheeless, her son Joe Brewer, III and his wife Virginia Holland Brewer.

Lucy Brewer’s brothers, Mayo and Nick Boddie, along with their wives, children, grandchildren and extended families, are supporting the distinguished professorship through various family foundations. Numerous members of the Brewer and Boddie families have attended UNCW, and many continue to support the university as members of UNCW boards and groups.

Joe Brewer, III, said, “The school has been good to me and my family, and we wanted to give back.”

The Brewer and Boddie families’ gift of $667,000 will be matched by $333,000 from the state’s Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust Fund, resulting in a total endowment of $1 million.