In the last month FAU has received two of the largest donations in its history, and broken a national record along the way. In early January, the College of Business received a $16 million donation from business wiz Barry Kaye. Before last week, that was the largest donation FAU had ever received. But not to be outdone, the Schmidt fortune came back with more – over four times more. The Schmidt Family Foundation donated a record-breaking $75 million dollars to the future Boca Raton Community Hospital being built on FAU’s Boca campus. The gift is the largest donation to a community hospital in the United States. Here’s the details on what these two record-breaking donations mean for FAU.
Business donation will pay for more teachers and programs
One of the largest donations in FAU history, insurance dignitary Barry Kaye committed a whopping $16 million last month to invigorate FAU’s College of business with new programs and demeanor.
In honor of his kindness, the college will be renamed The Barry Kaye College of Business. Kaye’s donation will be doubled through Florida’s matching mandate for a grand total of $32 million. Until this donation, the largest donation to FAU was in 2000 with $15 million from the family of Boca Raton businessman Charles E. Schmidt to build a biomedical science center.
Although many endowments go to new construction for many colleges, this one will not. The whole donation will be for programs only, such as additional faculty, new programs and scholarships for students. Among the new programs, FAU will introduce a new school of insurance and economics.
Kaye and his wife decided to give the donation after seeing how much the business school has improved in recent years. It has the most enrollment of any of FAU’s colleges.
“Carole and I feel privileged to be able to name FAU’s College of Business,” Kaye said. “It is very gratifying to know that our gift will provide opportunities for students to achieve academic and research excellence.”
Donations to FAU break yet another record
Last week, FAU became part of history, receiving the largest donation ever to a local facility in Palm Beach County. The $75 million donation by the Schmidt Family Foundation puts the hospital closer to its $250 million goal. The new building, set to open in 2012, will be the first new academic medical center built in the past 30 years.
“No one is more excited about this opportunity than my family and I,” said Richard Schmidt, chairman of the Schmidt Family Foundation. “We gave as much as we could.”
Before the Schmidt donation, the record largest donation to a hospital was $20 million in 2005 from insurance executive Christine Lynn, the namesake of FAU’s College of Nursing.
The record-breaking donation will go toward constructing a replacement hospital, located on FAU’s Boca campus. The new hospital will have 530 beds – making it twice the size of the original building.
To learn more about either of these donations, click here to visit the College of Business Web site or the College of Science Web site.