October 06, 2008
Philanthropist Donates $42-Million to Stem-Cell Research
By Maria Di Mento
Lorry I. Lokey, the founder of Business Wire, a San Francisco company that distributes press releases, has pledged $42-million to Stanford University School of Medicine for a new stem-cell research center. That comes on top of the $33-million commitment Mr. Lokey made to support the center last year.
Mr. Lokey, who is 82, graduated from Stanford in 1949 and over the past 10 years has become one of the county’s most prolific philanthropists. He has landed on The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of the 50 most generous donors every year for the past eight years. He ranked No. 23 on last year’s list.
The research center, which the university plans to name for Mr. Lokey, is scheduled to open in 2010, and Stanford officials estimate it will cost $200-million to build. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a state agency in San Francisco, has contributed $43.6-million to the center, and the university plans to use additional private donations and university funds to finance the rest.
Mr. Lokey said in a press release that he decided to start supporting stem-cell research after the Bush administration restricted federal support for it in 2001.
“I’m terribly disappointed in the current administration’s outlook. It’s very narrow-minded. This is about lives being saved,” said Mr. Lokey.
Not counting this latest pledge, Mr. Lokey has given Stanford a total of about $80-million since he graduated and has given away a total of at least $390-million to charity over his lifetime.
In an interview with The Chronicle last year, Mr. Lokey said he wishes other wealthy Americans would donate more money to charity than they currently do.
“I’m doing it because I earn far out of proportion than what I’m worth to this world. But there are people that are of more worth to this world who donate not one tenth of what I give away,” said Mr. Lokey. “Giving away a couple million is wonderful, but these rich people need to do better.”
To learn more about big donors, see an online discussion in which Mr. Lokey answered questions from Chronicle readers.
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