Frank Haskell

Frank Haskell, 93, co-founder of nonprofit Barbara’s Friends, which supports Southwest Florida children with cancer, died on Wednesday. For the past 28 years, Haskell worked to help local children win their battles with cancer and life-threatening blood disorders. Through his efforts, Barbara’s Friends raised $25 million to support more than 10,000 children at Golisano Children’s Hospital. Haskell retired in 1987 and relocated to Southwest Florida after a career at Burroughs Corp. in Boston, where he was the youngest vice president in company history, and Moore Business Systems in Dallas. He was invited to join the development board for the Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida in 1991. Haskell founded the cancer fund with his late wife Betty in 1995, naming it in memory of their daughter Barbara, who died at age 36 after a battle with cancer. Before Barbara died, she asked her parents to do more to help children fighting cancer so they didn’t have to suffer. The original goal was to raise about $100,000 with the fund in her name. The Barbara’s Friends Medical Library was established at HealthPark Medical Center in 1998. Barbara’s Friends Pediatric Hematology Oncology Center on the fifth floor of HealthPark opened in 1999 to serve children until Golisano Children’s Hospital was built in 2017. The Barbara’s Friends permanent endowment was established in 2002.