Sanford to receive philanthropy award

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Retired South Dakota banker T. Denny Sanford has been selected to receive the 2012 Award for Outstanding Philanthropist.

The award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals honors an individual with a proven record of exceptional generosity who demonstrates outstanding civic and charitable responsibility.

Sanford will receive the honor during a March 31 ceremony at the association's 49th International Conference on Fundraising in Vancouver.

Sanford has given more than half a billion dollars to the former Sioux Valley Hospitals and Health System that became Sanford Health in 2007. He has also contributed $70 million to the science authority that is turning the former Homestake Mine into an underground laboratory.

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