In true Oregonian fashion, dozens of staff and faculty members, and a few students, stood in front of Johnson Hall despite the rain yesterday to honor Lorry Lokey for making the largest academic donation in Oregon and University history.
At the gathering, University President Dave Frohnmayer also announced that in a telephonic conference call, the State Board of Higher Education unanimously voted to approve the University’s request to collectively name all 10 science buildings, plus the Integrative Science Complex, the Lorry I. Lokey Science Complex.
Allan Price, vice president for University advancement, called Lokey a man with “financial generosity only exceeded by the size of his heart.”
Frohnmayer said Lokey’s $74.5 million gift, announced late Monday and primarily allocated to the sciences, will allow the University “to reach out to the world.” He said Lokey supports the academic vision of the University, and the donation will provide leverage for additional donations.
“We’re humbled and grateful for the confidence you’ve shown us,” Frohnmayer said to Lokey. He introduced Lokey as “our benefactor, our friend, the greatest guy we know.”
“I’m deeply honored and privileged to be able to do all this stuff,” said the 80-year-old Portland native and Stanford alumnus.
Lokey has a long-standing relationship with both Price and Frohnmayer, and said he would have attended the

University had he not chosen Stanford, to which he has also made major donations. Lokey has donated in total more than $400 million to universities and high schools, and is the University’s largest academic donor. He was ranked No. 11 on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of top donors for the year 2006.
As it turns out, Lokey has done quite a bit for the University. This gift, the second-largest overall in University history, brings his total contributions to University academia to $131.9 million. His other contributions include $12.5 million for renovation and expansion of College of Education facilities; $5 million for the new music building, named after MarAbel Frohnmayer at Lokey’s request; and $4.5 million for the new Turnbull Portland Center, which focuses on journalism and communication.
“I wish people would realize how beneficial it is to give to others,” said Lokey. “The great satisfaction of … going into a grant program that will benefit so many others is a reward beyond belief.”
Provost Linda Brady said the gift will help the University achieve strategic goals such as faculty recruitment and retention, a growing concern as a large generation of faculty approaches retirement and “fierce competition” between institutions for top faculty ensues.
“You are challenging us,” Brady said to Lokey, “and we are up to the task.”
Chemistry professor Jim Hutchison said the gift to the sciences will provide resources to focus on interdisciplinary sciences – “one of the hallmarks of the UO.” Now, Hutchison said, they will be able to explore the intersection of new sciences.
“Science is the key to our future,” Lokey said. “I look forward to having the dessert of my life right here at Oregon.”
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