A Calgary philanthropist is donating $9 million to the University of Calgary to study infectious diseases, such as SARS, and how to fight them.

"I know first-hand the devastating effects and I want to make a difference," Joan Snyder, 76, said in a news release Monday, referring to members of her family and close friends who have suffered through conditions "that stem from infection, immunity or inflammation."

Philanthropist Joan Snyder is donating $9 million to the University of Calgary.
(University of Calgary)

Snyder's gift will be used to help researchers find ways to reduce the impact of infectious diseases such as severe acute respiratory syndrome and West Nile virus, as well as to modify the immune system to fight off the infections.

An institute at the school will be renamed The Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation after the donor and her parents, said the U of C.

Snyder credits her parents, originally from Saskatchewan, with teaching her the importance of giving back to the community.

Her father, Calvin, was a successful oil and gas businessman, and her mother, Phoebe, was an amateur athlete who competed in hockey, tennis and curling.

There is already a research chair named after the Snyders, created in 2000, that has helped fund studies on sepsis, a blood infection that kills more than 300,000 North Americans every year, said the school.

Snyder, an enthusiastic fan of the Calgary Flames, will be honoured for her donation at Monday night's hockey game where she'll drop the puck at the Pengrowth Saddledome.