Nurse one in a million

SHE’S the 93-year-old nurse who quietly built a multimillion-dollar share portfolio – only to hand it to a group of strangers on her deathbed.

“I think she knew she was dying, hence the enormous rush to get the bequest set up and have her will changed,” Janet Price said of her aunt Cora Cutmore, who has delivered Bond University one of its largest ever single private donations.

“She always wanted her money to go to medical research but could never find the right place – until now.”

More than 25 of Ms Cutmore’s loved ones were yesterday given a tour of the university’s Clem Jones Research Centre, where her millions will be directed to furthering the development of stem cell therapies.

A single woman with no children, she gravitated towards the centre due to its

groundbreaking focus on age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of legal blindness and an ailment that affected both her and her late sister.

“I believe she heard me talking about our work on the radio and asked her niece to call us to talk about what we do,” said the centre’s head, Professor Helen O’Neill.

“She was a visionary. She was a nurse who realised you need a little bit more out of the ordinary to treat macular degeneration.”

Ms Cutmore, who travelled the world before spending the final years of her life on the Sunshine Coast, had a few simple rules when she asked her niece and nephew to explore possible beneficiaries for her fortune.

Medical research. Minimal admin costs. A small, cohesive group. Trustworthy.

“We wanted to trust them and we do,” Ms Price said of Prof O’Neill and her team.

“The entire share portfolio has gone to Bond and it’s massive. We’ll always be keeping a motherly and fatherly eye on it ... but they now have total control and power to flex.”

Ms Price said while her aunt left “token” amounts of cash to some family members, the way she lived her life was her greatest legacy.

“I have granddaughters and it’s extremely important they have strong female role models who show you don’t need a man to be a success in life,” she said.