In 1941, the Medical College of Virginia Hospital (MCV West Hospital) opened to national acclaim. The largest donation for the hospital, $300,000, was an anonymous gift from A.D. Williams of Richmond and his wife, local philanthropists and tobacco heirs.

Under the terms of the gift, the couple’s identity had to be kept secret until after their deaths. The building, the A.D. Williams Memorial Clinic & Laboratories, was named for them on Mar. 21, 1952. Other financing for the building, $239,850, came from the Public Works Administration (PWA), a Depression-era agency focused on the construction of large-scale public projects.