Thomas Frist on personal history
From Reflections: CFMT's Beginning as told by Ellen Lehman, Ted Lazenby & Tommy Frist, Jr. · · CommFoundMidTn
“The first involvement I had with The Community Foundation was an invitation to a luncheon at the Commerce Union Bank building in the late 1980s.”
On , Thomas Frist, Founder & Chairman Emeritus at HCA Healthcare, spoke about personal history during Reflections: CFMT's Beginning as told by Ellen Lehman, Ted Lazenby & Tommy Frist, Jr. on CommFoundMidTn.
About Thomas Frist
Thomas Frist, Jr., co-founder of HCA Healthcare, has spoken about his family's philanthropic and civic involvement in Nashville. In a 2021 discussion about the founding of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Frist recalled that he became involved after a 1990 lunch with Ida Cooney, who urged him to start a community foundation. He said the foundation has allowed his family to be "more effective in our charitable giving" and stated that the community is "far better off today" as a result. Frist also noted that some people initially opposed the idea, believing there was no need for a community foundation given existing private and not-for-profit foundations. In a 2015 acceptance speech for the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame, Frist credited his father, Thomas Frist, Sr., and HCA co-founder Jack Massey as role models. He said his father taught him "core values" including integrity and humility, and that Massey taught him "the joy of giving back." Frist described Nashville and Tennessee as "an unbelievably great place for the Frist family" and said he hoped that "along the way we've made the world a little better place for others." In a 2016 video for the Nashville Health Care Council's 20th anniversary, Frist said the council has provided a place for healthcare pioneers to collaborate and that Nashville has become "an important source of new ideas and new technologies" in healthcare.