Under normal physiologic conditions, cellular homeostasis is partly regulated by balancing pro- and anti-phagocytic signals. CD47 is highly expressed on several human cancers including acute myeloid leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and bladder cancer, allowing cancer cells to evade phagocytosis by the innate immune system. Blockade of CD47 with a monoclonal antibody enables phagocytosis of cancer cells and leads to in vivo tumor elimination, but leaves most normal cells unaffected. In order for target cells to be phagocytosed upon blockade of an anti-phagocytic signal, we postulate that the cells must also display a potent pro-phagocytic signal. Here we identify calreticulin as a pro-phagocytic signal highly expressed on the surface of several human cancers including acute myeloid and lymphoblastic leukemias, chronic myeloid leukemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), bladder cancer, glioblastoma, and ovarian cancer, but minimally expressed on most normal cells. Increased CD47 expression correlated with high calreticulin levels on cancer cells, and was necessary for protection from calreticulin-mediated phagocytosis. Phagocytosis induced by anti-CD47 antibody required the interaction of target cell calreticulin with its receptor low density lipoprotein-receptor related protein (LRP) on phagocytic cells, as blockade of the calreticulin/LRP interaction prevented anti-CD47 antibody mediated phagocytosis. Lastly, increased calreticulin expression was an adverse prognostic factor in diverse tumors including neuroblastoma, bladder cancer, and NHL. These findings identify calreticulin as the dominant pro-phagocytic signal on several human cancers, provide an explanation for the selective targeting of tumor cells by anti-CD47 antibody, and highlight the balance between pro- and anti-phagocytic signals in the immune evasion of cancer.