Our Story

In 1997 Mr. William Russell Mote provided $50,000 to his vascular Surgeon, Dr. Russell H. Samson, to help fund the Mote Vascular Foundation, inc., a non-profit organization devoted to educating vascular surgeons and the public about the ravages of vascular disease.

Born in Tampa in 1906, Mr. Mote, who spent his boyhood days wading in Tampa Bay for crabs and clams, traced his maritime passion to these excursions and other childhood fishing trips. In later-life, he became the principal benefactor of the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida. Mr. Mote had given the laboratory at least $8 million over the years. In 1991, Congress chose the laboratory as the home of the National Center for Shark Research. The laboratory's snook breeding program had also earned worldwide recognition, with nearly 40,000 hatchlings released into Sarasota Bay by the time he passed in 2000. In 1994, the International Oceanographic Foundation gave Mr. Mote its Gold Medal Award for promoting the study of the sea. Mr. Mote and his wife, who died in 1991, donated $1 million in 1994 to establish the William R. and Lenore Mote Eminent Scholar Chair in Fisheries Ecology at Florida State University.

However, it was not the sea that made him wealthy, but Republic Carloading and Distributing Company, a transportation company that he started when he moved to New York City and sold in 1960. In retirement, he spent half of the year in New York and half the year in Sarasota. Unfortunately, he developed significant peripheral arterial disease and ultimately underwent lower extremity bypass surgery by renowned surgeon Dr. Frank J Veith at Montefiore Medical Center. Eventually, Dr. Russell H. Samson in Sarasota amputated his left leg and bypassed the right leg.

Always charitable, Mr. Mote funded some of Dr. Veith's research and was eager to help educate the lay public about the ravages of vascular disease, hence his willingness to support the Mote Vascular Foundation in Sarasota under the direction of Dr. Samson.  With donations from other patients and medical industry, notably WL Gore, the foundation's capital investments have increased considerably.

Over the years, the foundation has provided for visiting professors to travel to Sarasota to share their knowledge with the city’s vascular surgeons. These visiting professors have also lectured at Sarasota Memorial Hospital's Grand Rounds and have provided lectures to the lay public. Foundation monies have also been used to help research initiatives, which have led to publications in peer-reviewed journals of vascular surgery. The foundation has also helped provide lectures to medical students and the lay public.