Ann was born and raised in Florida. She moved to Chicago in 1973 where she married Bob Lurie. Before starting her family, she worked in public health and pediatric intensive care nursing in rural Florida and at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago.
Ann administers the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Foundation, a private philanthropic foundation in Chicago that provides funding for projects she is passionate about and are aligned with a template she and her late husband Bob developed before he died. While supporting charitable endeavors in Chicago and throughout the world, she has developed a particular interest in funding medical treatment, research, education and prevention.
2 NRP Managers, LLC/Lurie Holdings, Inc. administers and manages her investment portfolio. In furtherance of Bob’s engineering background, investments have focused on the miniaturization of technology, from micro to MEMS to nanotechnology and on applications to health care.
Ann founded and served as president of Africa Infectious Disease Village Clinics, Inc. (AID Village Clinics), a registered U.S. public charity focused on providing free quality medical care and public health services to rural communities in southeastern Kenya until its closing in late 2012.
Ann earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Florida, and, in 2010, was appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor, Preventive Medicine, at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
ACADEMIC RECOGNITION:
Honorary Degrees and Named Chair
Erikson Institute – Doctor of Humane Letters, Spring 2009
University of Florida – Doctor of Public Service, Spring 2009
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor – Doctor of Laws, Winter 2003
Northwestern University-Ann Lurie Professorship in Oncology, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University 2021
PROFESSIONAL AWARDS:
Awarded, Chicago Council on Science and Technology Lifetime Achievement Award (May 2018)
Recognized, Streetwise Chicago, 25 Most Significant People in the History of StreetWise (September 2017)
Awarded, Civic Federation of Chicago, Lyman J. Gage Award for Outstanding Civic Contribution by an Individual (April 2014)
Awarded, UNICEF, Chicago Humanitarian Award (October 2013)
Awarded, Northwestern Alumni Association Grant Goodrich Achievement Award (March, 2013)
Awarded, Chicago Magazine, Chicagoans of the Year (December 2012)
Awarded, Chicago Consular Corps, Global Citizen Award (May 2011)
Awarded, Research America Award for Sustained National Leadership (March 2010)
Awarded, Anti-Defamation League, Lifetime Achievement Award (March 2009)
Awarded, National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Award for Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of Humankind (March 2009)
Awarded, Harvard Club of Chicago Annual Award (April 2008)
Awarded, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Distinguished Philanthropist, Chicago (Spring 2006)
Awarded, Chicago Historical Society, Jane Addams Making History Award for Distinction in Social Service (Spring 2004)
Co-Chair, Host Committee, Princess Diana’s Royal Visit to Chicago (1996)
RECOGNITION:
Inducted, Member, American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2015)
Recognized, Today's Chicago Woman, "100 Women of Inspiration" (July 2014)
Featured, Betsy Storm, Bright Lights of the Second City, Top Drawer Communications LLC (2014)
Recognized, Make It Better magazine, "Top 11 Chicago Female Philanthropists" (May 2014)
Featured, Chicago Magazine “The Power 100” (March 2013)
Recognized, Crain’s Chicago Business, Who’s Who in Chicago Business (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Featured, Chicago Tribune, “Executive Profile, Wealth of Determination” (April 2012)
Featured, Chicago magazine, “The 100 Most Powerful Chicagoans” (March 2012)
Featured, Town & Country Special Philanthropy Issue, “A Woman’s Guide to Giving” (June 2008)
Featured, Chronicle of Philanthropy, “America’s 50 most-generous donors committed $7.3 billion in 2007” (January 2008)
Featured, Chicago Life, distributed by the New York Times, “Philanthropy Here and Beyond” (Holiday 2007)
Recognized, Chronicle of Philanthropy, “America’s Top Donors” (Winter 2007)
Featured, Business Week, “United States’ Leading Philanthropists” (2003 and 2004)
Recognized, Crain’s Chicago Business, “Chicago’s 100 Most Influential Women” (Spring 2004)
Recognized, Chicago Sun-Times, “Most Powerful Woman in Philanthropy” (Spring 2004)
Featured, Chronicle of Philanthropy, “Shaped by the 60s, Widow Takes Free-Spirited Approach to Giving” (February 2003)
Recognized, Worth, “The Benefactor 100” (Spring 2000)