Milan "Mike" Puškar (September 8, 1934 – October 7, 2011) was an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

from

Morgantown, West Virginia Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Monongahela River. The largest city in North-Central West Virginia, Morgantown is best known as th ...

Biography

Puskar was born in

Vintondale, Pennsylvania Vintondale is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 414 as of the 2010 census. History Vintondale was founded by Warren Delano IV, mat ...

, to ethnic Serbian parents from

Kordun The Kordun () region is a part of central Croatia from the bottom of the Petrova Gora (Peter's mountain) mountain range, which extends along the rivers Korana and Slunjčica, and forms part of the border region to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Within C ...

. He graduated from

Youngstown State University Youngstown State University (YSU or Youngstown State) is a public university in Youngstown, Ohio. It was founded in 1908 and is the easternmost member of the University System of Ohio. The university is composed of six undergraduate colleges an ...

in 1960. In 1961, he and

Don Panoz Donald Panoz ( or ; February 13, 1935 – September 11, 2018) was an American entrepreneur who founded various pharmaceutical companies. Early life Panoz was an Italian-American. His father, Eugene Panunzio, immigrated to the United States f ...

co-founded a pharmaceutical company which became

Mylan Inc. Mylan N.V. was a global generic and specialty pharmaceuticals company. In November 2020, Mylan merged with Upjohn, Pfizer's off-patent medicine division, to form Viatris. Previously, the company was domiciled in the Netherlands, with principal ...

Puskar was Mylan's president from 1976 through 2000. In November 1993, aged 58, he became the company's

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

. He served as CEO until 2002 and as chairman until 2009. Following his retirement as CEO, his successor Robert J. Coury drastically cut employee benefits and blocked Puskar from entering Mylan’s Morgantown facility, and Puskar came to regret putting him in charge of the company.

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

Milan Puskar Stadium Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium is an American football stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia, on the campus of West Virginia University. It opened in 1980 and serves as the home field for the West Virginia Mountaineers football team. Th ...

was named for him after he made a

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

20 million donation. Morgantown Health Right a

free clinic A free clinic or walk in clinic is a health care facility in the United States offering services to economically disadvantaged individuals for free or at a nominal cost. The need for such a clinic arises in societies where there is no universal ...

was renamed

Milan Puskar Health Right Milan Puskar Health Right (Health Right) is a free clinic that provides health and dental care to the uninsured and underinsured at no cost in the city of Morgantown, and Marion, Monongalia, Taylor and Preston counties in West Virginia. Foun ...

in 2004 in recognition of his generous support since its inception.

Death

Puskar died in

, on October 7, 2011, from cancer.

References

1934 births 2011 deaths American businesspeople Businesspeople from Morgantown, West Virginia American people of Serbian descent Youngstown State University alumni Deaths from cancer in West Virginia 20th-century American philanthropists Philanthropists from West Virginia {{philanthropist-stub