Lowenfields' $300,000 Gift Creates a Collaborative Hub for Cancer Care

Gift supports a space where cancer specialists develop personalized treatment plans for patients.

A major philanthropic gift from Ronnie and Ashley Lowenfield will help shape how cancer specialists collaborate to care for patients at the future Steve and Nancy Fox Cancer Center, now under construction at Texas Tech Health El Paso.

As part of Texas Tech Health El Paso's Building Hope Campaign, the couple has committed $300,000 to establish the Ronald W. & E. Ashley Lowenfield Tumor Board Room, where multidisciplinary teams of physicians, surgeons, radiologists and other specialists will review complex cancer cases and develop individualized treatment plans for patients.

The Lowenfield family announced the gift today during a special event at the Texas Tech Health El Paso campus. For Ronnie Lowenfield, CEO of Casa Auto Group, the decision to support the center’s tumor board room reflects a lifelong belief that the best ideas emerge when people work side by side.

"I think so much magic happens when people with a common vision get together and discuss ideas,” Ronnie said. “I wanted it to be a place where people could get together, be inspired and change the world."

Richard Lange, M.D., M.B.A., president of Texas Tech Health El Paso, said gifts like the Lowenfields' are essential for making the Fox Cancer Center a world-class facility that will improve the lives of people in our region.

"Ronnie and Ashley Lowenfield have long believed in investing in the health and well-being of our community," Dr. Lange said. "Their generosity reflects a shared commitment to ensuring families throughout the Borderplex have access to exceptional cancer care close to home. The Ronald W. & E. Ashley Lowenfield Tumor Board Room will shape some of the most important treatment decisions in a patient's cancer journey, and its impact will be felt for generations to come."

A Much-Needed Cancer Facility for El Paso

Each year, nearly 3,500 El Pasoans are diagnosed with cancer, and many families are forced to travel hundreds of miles for specialized treatment. For those unable to leave town, access to advanced cancer care often remains out of reach.

The Fox Cancer Center is designed to change that.

Construction on the Fox Cancer Center began in September 2025 and will become the first comprehensive cancer center serving West Texas, bringing cancer imaging, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, research and clinical trials under one roof. The Fox Cancer Center is a partnership between Texas Tech Health El Paso and its primary teaching hospital, University Medical Center of El Paso. The center will unite academic medicine and community-based care to expand access to advanced cancer treatment close to home.

Behind every diagnosis is a family weighing the benefits of specialized treatment against the hardship of traveling far from loved ones. The Fox Cancer Center will help end that cycle by bringing world-class cancer care to El Paso.

Why This Gift Matters

For the Lowenfields, the mission is deeply personal.

Cancer claimed the lives of Ronnie's grandfather and Ashley's grandfather.

In 2023, Ronnie himself was diagnosed with cancer in his thumb. One of the first people to reach out after his diagnosis was Steve Fox, whose own cancer journey inspired his family's historic $25 million gift to establish the Steve and Nancy Fox Cancer Center. Fox connected Ronnie with physicians in Houston and helped guide him through treatment.

Today, Ronnie is cancer-free, and those experiences strengthened the couple's commitment to ensuring future patients have access to exceptional cancer care in El Paso.

Ronnie said the tumor board room represents far more than a meeting space.

"I believe those little seeds of hope will be formed in this room," he said. "Seeds of healing, seeds of progress, seeds of well-being."

For Ashley, the tumor board room reflects the same values that have guided their family and its approach to giving.

"My hope is that the patients and their families have a sense of security because of the existence of this cancer center," Ronnie said. "The financial burden of travel, the emotional burden of being away from your loved ones ... is lightened."

"We've been a part of the Texas Tech community for a long time, and it's one of our favorite things to give back to," Ashley said. "Ronnie loves really great thoughts and people coming together to share. He thinks everyone has something to give."

A Family Dynamic Inspires Support for Tumor Board Room

As parents of five children, Ronnie and Ashley have built a home where everyone contributes, supports one another and works together. Ashley immediately saw a connection between that family dynamic and the collaboration that will take place inside the tumor board room.

"Just like in my little community in my home, we all come together to have everybody's ideas and solve problems," Ashley said.

She hopes every patient and family who enters the Fox Cancer Center experiences the same sense of welcome that visitors find in the Lowenfield home.

"Just a welcoming place where even in being there, they feel some sense of healing before any treatment starts," Ashley said.

The gift continues the Lowenfield family's longstanding support of Texas Tech Health El Paso and the Borderplex community. Through Casa Auto Group and their personal philanthropy, the family supports scholarships, student initiatives, cancer screening programs and numerous efforts that strengthen the community. Ronnie said those investments all share a common purpose: improving the lives of the people who call our Borderplex home.

"I want to improve the well-being of the communities in which I serve," Ronnie said. "That's why I exist."

About the Fox Cancer Center

Now under construction, the Fox Cancer Center will be the first comprehensive cancer center to serve West Texas and the Borderplex region, transforming how we treat cancer for our families, friends and neighbors.

The Building Hope Campaign is fundraising effort supporting construction of the cancer center and the acquisition of specialized, state-of-the-art cancer treatment equipment needed to launch at full strength — without diverting resources from patient services — so more patients can be served on day one.

The center will help deliver compassionate, comprehensive care, elevate life-saving research, and bring opportunities for innovative clinical trials – right here, in the Borderplex.  

Cancer warriors and their families will no longer face the emotional and financial burden of traveling far for treatment because world-class cancer care will be close to home. 

Help Build Hope for Borderplex Families

Your support helps bring world-class cancer care, groundbreaking research and life-saving treatments closer to home. For more information about how you can help, please contact Becky Lee at becky.lee@ttep.edu or 915-215-5695, or Christopher Rosenbluth at chrosenb@ttep.edu or 915-215-4850, or visit ttuhscep.edu/elpaso/ia/giving/.