KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? An open heart surgeon at the University of Kansas Hospital has donated $1 million to the hospital’s new heart center, officials announced Friday.

Dr. William A. Reed and his wife, Mary, said they hoped the gift would spur others toward funding the $72 million project.

“My wife and I want our gift to be a lead gift for a fund drive for the heart center,” Reed said. “It was important to us that there be major support from the physicians involved. We are hoping that by raising some funds early we can lay a foundation for building, equipping and furnishing this facility.”

Reed is chairman of the department of cardiovascular diseases at the hospital. He also is founder of MidAmerica Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons, which was acquired by the hospital in 2001. At the same time, the hospital acquired Mid-America Cardiology, another group of cardiovascular physicians.

KU officials previously announced that physicians with the two groups, along with cardiologists and surgeons with Kansas University Physicians Inc., had pledged $500,000 toward the heart facility, at 39th Street and Cambridge Road.

“We want to have the No. 1 heart care program in the region,” said Dr. Randall Genton, president of Mid-America Cardiology.

When completed in 2006, the 238,000-square-foot center will increase patient capacity for heart patients, expand the hospital’s emergency department and increase the space available for cardiovascular laboratories, surgeries, outpatient procedures and intensive care.

The facility is funded with a combination of private gifts, bonds and hospital operating revenue.

“The KU Hospital has been full in the last two years particularly,” Reed said. “That can limit the growth of the heart program. When the new facility is built, it will give us the room to bring state-of-the-art care and personally oriented care to the cardiac patient.”

Reed, who completed an internship and two residencies at KU, spent most of his career at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., serving 29 years as medical director of the hospital’s cardiovascular surgery program. He no longer performs surgeries.