Manu Shah had his first heart attack 25 years ago.
“It was one of the scariest moments of my life—sudden symptoms, uncertainty and fear,” Shah told the Business Journal. “But the St. Jude team responded with incredible speed and humanity.”
Since then, he has experienced other heart-related challenges and continued to receive cardiac care at Providence St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton.
That level of treatment led Shah and his wife Rika, co-founders of MS International Inc. (MSI), to give what the hospital is calling its biggest cash gift ever. The Shahs requested that St. Jude keep the amount of the gift undisclosed.
Their gift is establishing the Shah Happiness Center for Cardiovascular Health, a comprehensive program housing all of the medical center’s cardiovascular services such as its catheterization labs and cardiovascular suite.
“We hope it sends a message that a healthy heart is the gateway to a joyful life,” Shah said. “That’s why we intentionally used the word ‘happiness’ in the center’s name.”
The Shah Happiness Center for Cardiovascular Health will focus on five key areas including preventative cardiology care, lifesaving technologies, community health programs, caregiver education and recovery and rehabilitation.
With this donation, Providence St. Jude Memorial Foundation has surpassed its $15 million fundraising goal, according to Mary Eileen “Dub” Drees, chief philanthropy officer of the hospital foundation.
St. Jude is a part of Renton, Washington-based Providence, the third-largest not-for-profit health system in the U.S. with 125,000 employees across 51 hospitals and 1,014 clinics.
Providence’s three other local hospitals are St. Joseph in Orange and Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo and Laguna Beach.
‘Virtual’ Center
While not a physical center, signage for the Shah Happiness Center for Cardiovascular Health will be displayed on the top floor of St. Jude, according to Drees.
“This is essentially a virtual center that brings together all of our cardiovascular health services, from education and prevention to supporting the physician’s needs,” Drees said.
Drees said that they hope the Shah’s contribution will inspire others as they currently have more naming opportunities in front of the main lobby of the medical center.
St. Jude officials estimate that the Shah’s gift has the potential to impact 6,000 cardiovascular patients at St. Jude annually.
In addition to helping fund new imaging equipment, the gift will allow St. Jude to bring on new cardiovascular surgeons and cardiologists, as well as do what it calls “future proofing,” according to Drees.
“What are those needs going to be that keep Providence St. Jude Medical Center at the forefront in cardiovascular health?” Drees said.
From Patient to Donor
Shah said that there were early signs of his heart problems that he ignored.
“If I don’t eat 125 or 200 calories, then I don’t have to walk two miles. That’s how I used to think,” Shah said. “What I didn’t realize was the advantage exercise has for the brain and the rest of the body.”
With this gift, he wants the center to help educate people about these signs and take better care of their health by exercising and watching their diet.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death across the U.S.
About 80% of cases, however, are preventable with a healthier lifestyle, according to the World Heart Federation.
Nowadays, he prioritizes his health by walking 10,000 steps a day and doing yoga twice a week.
Donated PPE to St. Jude
Drees said she first met the Shahs during the pandemic.
Manu’s cardiologist connected them because Manu had expressed that he wanted to help the hospital get more PPE.
“Every hospital in the land was scrambling,” Drees said.
He had thousands of N95 face masks, which were scarce at the time, and donated them to St. Jude “when they were most needed,” Drees said.
From there, they had more conversations about funding other projects before settling on a “patient gift in recognition of the outstanding care that Manu received at St. Jude,” Drees said.
“They wanted to lead the way with this transformational gift and have this be something that inspires others to give,” Drees said.
The gift was finalized earlier in the spring, but Manu wanted to wait until the week of his 80th birthday last month to publicly announce in front of clinical leaders and physicians at St. Jude.
Building a $2B Company in the Basement
Manu and Rika immigrated from India and in 1975 started MSI in the basement of their Fort Wayne, Indiana, home.
The couple initially exported electronic components such as microchips and microprocessors.
“Pretty soon it started drying up because all the manufacturing moved to South Korea, Taiwan or Singapore,” Manu said.
He said they “put two and two together” with the switch to importing black granite, realizing India had plenty of the material and that it was the most expensive part of the process of making memorials.
In 1981, MSI secured a contract to supply black granite for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
It eventually focused on kitchen countertops and tiles. It’s now the largest distributor of quartz countertops in the U.S.
MSI has grown from a basement operation to a global business supporting over 400,000 jobs across 35 countries. Based in Orange, it employs an estimated 500 employees alone in Orange County with annual revenue topping over $2.5 billion, according to its website. The company is the 13th largest private company in Orange County, according to the Business Journal’s annual list.
The Shahs won a Family-Owned Business Award from the Business Journal in the large company category in 2010 when it reported $250 million in sales. In 2013, Manu Shah also won the Business Journal’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award.
The Shahs have previously given notable gifts, such as $3 million to Chapman University to endow a chair to highlight local and national leaders who have successfully applied high-tech thinking to low-tech industries. It also gave another $1.5 million to the Illumination Foundation, which last year inaugurated the Shah Happiness Home in Orange to provide emergency shelters for homeless families.
Manu, who nowadays calls himself the “Chief Giving Officer,” attributes MSI’s continued success to its constant ability to adapt.
“The credit goes to our incredible team, and especially to my sons Raj and Rup, who have carried the company into new frontiers of digital innovation, sustainability and supply chain excellence,” he said.
Pledge to Make Their Last Check Bounce
Since retiring from MS International Inc. in 2023, Manu Shah has entrusted leadership of the company to his sons Rup and Raj.
He said that it felt like it was the right time.
“I had done what I set out to do—build a business rooted in values, fairness, and opportunity,” Manu said.
Handing over the reins to his sons also gave him the opportunity to focus more on philanthropy.
Manu says that he and his wife, Rika, have made a personal pledge to have their “last check bounce,” meaning they hope to give everything away in their lifetime.
Outside of their gift to Providence St. Jude Medical Center, the couple is passionate about causes related to health, early childhood development and women empowerment. In the past, they have contributed to organizations such as Illumination Foundation and South Asian Helpline and Referral Agency (SAHARA).
They’ve recently given back to their home country of India.
Manu said that they supported the construction of a yoga and meditation hall at his old school and also helped expand meal programs through the Akshaya Patra Foundation, an Indian nonprofit focused on food and children’s education.
In his free time, Manu enjoys writing and last year published a digital autobiography titled “Life and Times of Manu Shah—An Accidental Entrepreneur’s Journey.”
“We travel to visit family, love spending time with our grandchildren and continue to learn something new every day,” Manu said.
