When the Pardee Foundation called about the capital campaign for the new Comprehensive Cancer Center, Blazey shocked his visitors by saying, “I’ll make it easy for you.” He wanted to donate $25,000 in honor of his daughter, Gay Burgess Blazey, who died of colon cancer in 1990 at age 42.
Pardee will name a chemotherapy treatment room in her honor. Blazey and his wife also had two sons, both of whom served in the military.
Frank Blazey graduated from West Point in 1946, and went on to serve as a young Captain in the Korean War. He was awarded a Silver Star for his leadership as company commander in the 2d Battalion, 65th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division. Blazey served on the front lines in combat, in an advisory role in the early years of the Vietnam War, and then went back to West Point, where he earned an MBA. After his retirement from the military in 1974, Blazey worked for Coca-Cola and a manufacturing company.
– Hendersonville Lightning, May 18, 2016
