October 16, 2007
Businessman Donates Nearly $75-Million to University of Oregon
Lorry I. Lokey, the founder of Business Wire, a San Francisco company that distributes press releases, is giving nearly $75-million to the University of Oregon to support science programs and other efforts.
Two-thirds of the commitment — about $50-million — will go to the university’s Science Advancement and Graduate Education Initiative. Of that $50-million, about $30-million will endow faculty positions, $10-million will endow financial aid for graduate students pursuing Ph.D.‘s in science, and another $10-million will endow science programs and research in genetic and molecular biology, human physiology, nanotechnology, and neuroscience.
Another $24.5-million of the gift will pay for other programs. Of this amount, the President’s Special Projects Fund will get $5.5-million to support the university’s needs, and another $5-million will go to the university’s science library. A program encompassing humanities, natural sciences and social sciences will get $3-million, while $2-million will endow a chemistry professorship. Another $2-million will endow scholarships in the School of Journalism, and the university’s alumni center will also get $2-million.
The remaining $5-million will support the start-up costs of all of the efforts the gift is supporting.
Mr. Lokey last year sold Business Wire to Berkshire Hathaway, the Omaha insurance and investment company owned by the billionaire Warren Buffett, for an undisclosed amount
The university and Mr. Lokey first started talking about the gift in the spring, said Allan Price, the institution’s vice president for advancement. Then about three weeks ago Mr. Lokey visited the university and spent several days talking to scientists there, visiting the labs, and listening to science professors and graduate students talk about their research. By the end of the visit, Mr. Lokey had decided to make the gift, Mr. Price said. Mr. Lokey worked with university officials to decide how much of the gift would go to support each cause.
Mr. Price said the university will receive $6.5-million of the gift up front, and then another $4-million over the next four years. Mr. Lokey will give the university most of the remainder of the money around 2012.
“We’re really humbled by this kind of gift,” said Mr. Price, who said Mr. Lokey’s support of the university’s science programs will boost its competitive edge in attracting top graduate students and faculty.
Mr. Lokey, who is 80 and lives in Portland, Ore., never attended the university. (He graduated from Stanford University in 1949, and last year he gave Stanford about $25-million for a new stem-cell research facility.)
However, he has been a major benefactor to the University of Oregon for several years and has donated $57-million over the past four years, beyond the commitment announced today. He also serves as a trustee of the University of Oregon Foundation.
Mr. Lokey was ranked No. 11 last year on The Chronicle’s annual list of the most-generous donors for the year. He contributed a total of $163-million to nonprofit groups in 2006. He has landed on the list every year for the past seven years. Discussing the fortune he made selling Business Wire, he told The Chronicle, “I’m going to dump all of this money by the time I’m 90.”
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My kind of guy – a wealthy man with a humble heart!
— CD Oct 16, 02:33 PM #
three words… W O W! I believe that money is a wonderful thing, when it is used wisely and kindly.
— carmela Oct 17, 12:40 PM #