All in the Family

When Buzz and Janice Ghiz reflect on their earliest memories of philanthropy, they each remember growing up in households where giving back was second nature. Born and raised in Chandler, Janice’s father helped build the city’s schools and churches through a career in construction; her mother founded the Chandler Public Library, going door to door to raise money for the center.

“[They] were just always doing something for the community,” Janice recalls.

Buzz’s father owned several Valley grocery stores in the 1940s, a job he viewed as literally feeding the neighborhood and putting anybody who needed a job to work. He went on to found Paddock Pools Construction Company in 1958. Buzz says his father instilled in him the idea that when you are the recipient of many blessings, you return those blessings to those around you.

“It started very young,” Buzz says. “Watching him give back set the tone for me—live your life in humility, integrity and trust—and that is what [Janice and I] try to pass on to our kids as well.”

The “kids” Buzz is referring to are Nick, Annalise and Anthony, the three adult children he and Janice, now married for nearly 50 years, raised in Arizona. And the family legacy that Buzz learned as a young boy—caring for others and giving back to the place you call home—thrives in the next Ghiz generation.

In fact, it was Buzz and Janice’s son, Nick, who first connected the Ghiz family to Phoenix Children’s. In 2015, 27-year-old Nick attended a motivational conference. The event’s throughline about the power of giving inspired Nick—and stirred up memories of his early childhood.

“We’d be driving down the road with my dad, and if he saw somebody on the side who needed help, he’d hand them whatever he had in his pocket,” Nick says. “Those are my first memories as a kid.”

Nick, now in his late 30s, returned to Phoenix after the conference and began contributing to Feeding America, which led to him becoming a wish granter for Make-A-Wish®—and eventually guided him to Phoenix Children’s.

It was through Phoenix Children’s that the Ghiz family—Nick, his parents Buzz and Janice, and his siblings Annalise and Anthony—decided they wanted to make a lasting impact together. In 2019, the family made a generous contribution to fund clinical research at the Phoenix Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. Not only was it a gift that supplied the hospital with much-needed resources to pursue a cure for cancer, it was also a move that embodied the give-back ethos imbued in the family generations before.

Today, the Ghiz family remains deeply involved in Phoenix Children’s and the community at large. Nick and Anthony co-founded Paramount Luxury Development, a high-end home construction business where a portion of every house sale supports Phoenix Children’s patient families and mental health initiatives. Anthony spent three years volunteering at the hospital’s Child Life Zone, a therapeutic play area for patients.

Annalise is the senior director of corporate partnerships and development at Make-A-Wish Arizona, a role she describes as offering purpose and passion in her life. “Honestly, I feel so inspired just knowing that what I’m doing is making a difference in someone’s life.” And Buzz previously sat on Phoenix Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders Advisory Board.

But for all the ways in which the Ghiz family’s philanthropic efforts are changing the health outcomes for a generation—and generations to come—for them, it’s simply what they’ve always known.

“We as a family have been immeasurably blessed with so many things, and we are so appreciative of that and grateful for it,” Buzz says. “We never want to take anything for granted. That’s why we give back and why we’ll continue to give back.”