For Ronnie and Ashley Lowenfield, supporting the future Steve and Nancy Fox Cancer Center is an investment in the health of the community they call home.
The El Paso couple has committed $300,000 to establish the Ronald W. & E. Ashley Lowenfield Tumor Board Room at the cancer center, now under construction at Texas Tech Health El Paso.
The gift represents El Pasoans helping El Pasoans: A local family is supporting a locally based cancer center designed to give patients access to advanced care without leaving their community.
Inside the tumor board room, multidisciplinary teams of physicians, surgeons, radiologists and other specialists will review complex cancer cases and collaborate on individualized treatment plans. The space will help shape some of the most consequential decisions in a patient’s cancer journey.
For Ronnie Lowenfield, CEO of El Paso-based Casa Auto Group, the decision to support the room reflects his 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,” he said. “I wanted it to be a place where people could get together, be inspired and change the world.”
The gift is part of Texas Tech Health El Paso’s Building Hope Campaign, which supports construction of the Fox Cancer Center and the acquisition of specialized treatment equipment.
Dr. Richard Lange, president of Texas Tech Health El Paso, said the Lowenfields’ generosity reflects their commitment to improving life in El Paso and throughout the Borderplex.
“Ronnie and Ashley Lowenfield have long believed in investing in the health and well-being of our community,” Lange said. “Their generosity reflects a shared commitment to ensuring families throughout the Borderplex have access to exceptional cancer care close to home.”
Meeting an urgent local need
Nearly 3,500 El Pasoans are diagnosed with cancer each year. Many must travel hundreds of miles for specialized care, separating them from their families and adding transportation, lodging and other expenses to an already difficult experience. For patients unable to travel, some advanced treatment options may remain out of reach.
The Fox Cancer Center is designed to change that.
A partnership between Texas Tech Health El Paso and University Medical Center of El Paso, the center will be the first comprehensive cancer center serving West Texas. It will bring cancer imaging, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, research and clinical trials together in one location, combining academic medicine with community-based care.
Construction began in September 2025.
A personal connection to the mission
The need for accessible cancer care is personal for the Lowenfields. Cancer claimed the lives of Ronnie’s grandfather and Ashley’s grandfather.
In 2023, Ronnie Lowenfield was diagnosed with cancer in his thumb. One of the first people to contact him was fellow El Paso philanthropist Steve Fox, whose own experience with cancer inspired his family’s historic $25 million gift to establish the center bearing his and his wife Nancy’s names.
Fox connected Ronnie Lowenfield with physicians in Houston and helped guide him through treatment. Today, Ronnie is cancer-free, but he remembers the challenges that accompany leaving El Paso for care.
“My hope is that the patients and their families have a sense of security because of the existence of this cancer center,” Ronnie Lowenfield said. “The financial burden of travel, the emotional burden of being away from your loved ones … is lightened.”
He sees the tumor board room as more than a meeting space.
“I believe those little seeds of hope will be formed in this room,” Ronnie Lowenfield said. “Seeds of healing, seeds of progress, seeds of well-being.”
A culture of collaboration
As parents of five children, Ronnie and Ashley Lowenfield have built a family in which everyone contributes, supports one another and works together. Ashley saw a connection between that family dynamic and the collaboration that will take place in 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,” she said.
Ashley Lowenfield hopes patients and families who enter the Fox Cancer Center will experience the same warmth 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,” she said.
The gift continues the family’s longstanding support of Texas Tech Health El Paso and the Borderplex. Through Casa Auto Group and their personal philanthropy, the Lowenfields have supported scholarships, student initiatives, cancer screening programs and other efforts benefiting the region.
For Ronnie Lowenfield, those investments share one purpose: giving back to the place that has shaped his family, his business and his life.
“I want to improve the well-being of the communities in which I serve,” he 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 offers an opportunity to transform cancer care for families across West Texas. Pledges may be fulfilled over multiple years, allowing donors to make a long-term impact. Every gift of any size has the power to save a life, offer hope and become part of our community’s cancer center forever.
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.
Visit ttuhscepimpact.org/fox-cancer-center to learn more about ways to give and follow the campaign’s progress.
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