|
'Frat boy' gives U AZ $10 mil
(Unfortunately, it never says which fraternity)
Saturday, 8 November 2003
One-time 'frat boy' is benefactor behind $10M UA donation
By Inger Sandal
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A self-described former "immature, party frat boy" is the $10 million donor UA officials kept a secret until Friday's groundbreaking for the renamed Thomas W. Keating BioResearch Building.
"I think it's fair to say I do not have a passion for microbiology. A lot of it is way, way over my head," said Keating, a business executive who returned to the UA and earned his bachelor's degree two years ago at age 58.
The $65.7 million building, formerly known as the Institute for Biomedical Science and Biotechnology, was one of three major buildings in the spotlight at a groundbreaking event Friday that included red-and-blue fireworks, a steel-drum band and research displays at the corner of East Mabel Street and North Warren Avenue.
The $54 million Medical Research Building and the $30 million Roy P. Drachman Hall will also be under construction by early next year.
Those buildings are part of the Warren Avenue Redevelopment District, which will transform the roadway into a landscaped corridor connecting the Arizona Health Sciences Center to the main campus. The projects are funded by a combination of state, federal and private dollars.
UA President Peter Likins praised state lawmakers for recognizing the importance of the UA's research mission by voting this summer to finance $440 million worth of new research buildings at the UA, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University. The UA's $180 million share will help fund projects such as the BioResearch Building.
The UA has long suffered from a shortage of research and classroom space, he said Friday. Those buildings will let the university expand its research base, he said, noting that UA professors already bring "hundreds of millions" of dollars in contracts to
Tucson.
Keating anonymously donated the first $5 million for a new building before he finished his undergraduate degree in agricultural education in 2000. A couple years later, he pledged to double his contribution when Eugene Sander, dean of the College of Agriculture, approached him with a grander idea - an institute where researchers from different fields would work side by side.
The BioResearch Building will build on the UA's already considerable reputation for collaboration, said Keating, who serves on the institute's advisory board and on
the UA Foundation board of directors.
One of its future occupants, Gerry Maggiora, a professor of medicinal chemistry, arrived on campus just a few weeks ago.
"When I saw the plans for this whole area, how this is going to be transformed, I thought that was pretty impressive," Maggiora said as he stood next to the parking lot that is the future site of Drachman Hall.
"If the biotech industry is going to grow in Tucson, it has to have an impressive university presence," said Maggiora, who spent nearly two decades working for a corporation. "I think this is a very important first step."
Keating arrived at the UA from California in 1960 and studied engineering, agriculture and business before leaving to work his way up in his family's business. By the time he sold the security guard and protection services business, it had grown from 120 employees to 19,000.
Keating, who now lives in Tucson with his wife, Irene, said he doesn't "live large" and considers the donation an investment.
"Education creates wealth for a society," he said.
|
Linear Mode
