In 1943, The Detroit Institute for Cancer Research was founded. Dr. Rollin H. Stevens was appointed the instituteﾒs first president. In 1995, the Cancer Center was renamed after Barbara Ann Karmanos, the late wife of Peter Karmanos Jr., former chairman and CEO of Compuware Corporation, and a long time financial supporter of the Cancer Center.Barbara Ann Karmanos succumbed to breast cancer at the age of 46.