$75 Million Gift to Help Stanford Build Nation’s Largest Stem Cell Research Center
By Lisa M Krieger Mercury News
Stanford University will construct a new stem cell research center, thanks to a $75 million gift from Atherton-based alum and philanthropist Lorry I. Lokey, founder of the Business Wire.
Lokey’s gift to the school of medicine, announced Monday, will help build a 200,000-square-foot facility that will be known as the Lorry I. Lokey Stem Cell Research Building. The modern, four-story building along Campus Drive will house 350 scientists working together to capture the power of these cells in treating diseases as diverse as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.
The school plans to break ground on the laboratories at ceremonies on Oct. 27 and complete the building by the summer of 2010.
"Stem cells are going to be as significant as the silicon chip that created Silicon Valley," said Lokey, who made an initial commitment to the building in February 2007. "Stem cells are going to introduce an entirely new field of medicine for extending lives and improving the quality of life."
Lokey’s gift is the largest to the medical school from a private individual and one of the largest capital gifts to ever Stanford University.
Now 81, the Oregon native graduated from Stanford in 1949 with a degree in journalism and got his start in the reporting field as editor of the Stanford Daily. He said he learned the value of money as a child growing up in the Depression.
He founded Business Wire, the international public relations wire service. Lokey sold the San Francisco-based company to Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s conglomerate, in 2006, when the wire service was valued at $500 million. He officially retired from the company this year.
With the stem cell gift, Lokey will have committed more than half a billion dollars of his personal fortune to philanthropic ventures, much of it for education and science. He previously contributed $20 million to Stanford for the Lorry I. Lokey Laboratory Building, which houses research labs for the departments of chemistry and biological sciences.
"I looked back and said to myself, what is it that has created all this wealth? I realized it’s education," Lokey said.
Lokey said he was motivated to support stem cell research after the Bush administration set severe restrictions on federal funding in 2001. "It’s very narrow-minded,” Lokey said.
"He is deeply committed to institutions and causes that will transform the world — by educating students or by promoting science and medicine,” said medical school Dean Dr. Philip Pizzo.
"Over the years he has conveyed his deep interest in stem cell biology and his belief that this area of research will impact science and ultimately improve the human condition," Pizzo added.
Lokey’s contribution will help build a new home for Stanford’s stem cell institute, one of five major research institutes based in the medical school.
Institute scientists are involved in the full array of stem cell research, including studies in both embryonic and adult cells, as well as work in cancer stem cells and in the development of disease- specific stem cell lines.
The total estimated cost of the building is $200 million, $43.6 million of which is being provided by a grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state stem cell agency. The balance will be financed with other private contributions and university resources.
The building will house scientists and clinicians in 33 laboratories and from multiple disciplines.
They will work side by side in the research center, which has an open design to encourage collaboration.
The ultimate goal of the work is to make discoveries that can be turned into therapies.
The availability of new space is expected to attract key faculty to Stanford and spur collaborations with scientists from the around the world.
Lokey said the prospect of bringing top research talent to Stanford is far more meaningful to him than personal goods his money could buy.
"I don’t want airplanes and boats and country club memberships," he said. "I believe that if you fall into a lot of money like I did, you put it into the soil — you replenish the soil for next year’s crop."
Contact Lisa M. Krieger at lkrieger@mercurynews.com or (408) 920- 5565.
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