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More than 300 UCSF donors, faculty, administrators, and staff gathered at the University's Mission Bay campus on October 25 to celebrate the enormous success of the Campaign for UCSF. The seven-year fundraising effort, which ended on June 30, brought in over $1.6 billion for health-related research, education, patient care, community outreach, and capital projects.
The gala evening began with a reception in the 80-foot-tall atrium of the new Mission Bay Community Center, where guests mingled at the base of four standing figures carved from the trunk of a single Bubinga tree by German sculptor Stephan Balkenhol. Before taking guided tours of the building with its stunning fitness facility and rooftop pool, attendees chatted with Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta, who designed the colorful Community Center with his son, Victor.
During the dinner program that followed, Chancellor J. Michael Bishop, MD, thanked Campaign for UCSF Co-Chairs Barbara Bass Bakar, Brook Byers, Art Kern, and Bill Oberndorf, Campaign Emeritus A.W. "Tom" Clausen, and Campaign Cabinet volunteers for their tireless work on behalf of the institution during a time of economic uncertainty at home and unrest abroad. Also honored was Intel Co-Founder and Senior Advisor Andrew S. Grove, who served as National Chair of the Campaign for UCSF.
Speaking to the assembled group over dessert, Grove said that just as industry invests in talent and technology to stay viable in an increasingly competitive marketplace, private donors must invest in public institutions like UCSF to keep their people, programs, and infrastructure resilient and strong in a rapidly changing world. Grove, whose Stem Cell Challenge raised over $12 million in matching funds to create the UCSF Program in Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, thrust the institution to the forefront of this promising field of research and inspired many donors to give to the Campaign for UCSF.
One of these donors, Jeff Peterson, spoke at the gala, praising the excellent care his wife Karen and their son, Eric, received at UCSF. Peterson acknowledged that their illnesses were tragic, but maintained that UCSF was able to give Karen and Eric better care than any other institution. "At UCSF," said Peterson, "they put the same passion into helping patients as they do research. And for that we are so grateful."
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| UCSF Mission Bay Community Center architect Ricardo Legorreta shares a smile with UCSF Foundation Director Jeanne Robertson, who served as campaign chair for the Center for Neurobiology and Psychiatry. |
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| UCSF Department of Urology Chair Peter Carroll, MD (left), celebrates with UCSF donors Toni Rembe Rock and Arthur Rock. |
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