 |
 |
|
|
|
|||
 |
|||
 |
|||
Philanthropists who made it happen
By David J. Craig
|
|
Gerald Tsai, Jr. |
|
|
|
As a BU student in the 1940s, Gerald Tsai, Jr. (CAS’49, GRS’49, Hon.’03) attended classes at the College of Liberal Arts during its last days on Boylston Street in Copley Square. The honorary trustee remembers how he and his classmates were “very excited” when CLA, which later became the College of Arts and Sciences, moved to its current home on Commonwealth Avenue in 1947. Finally, he says, they felt like they had a real college campus.
Tsai, who is chairman of his own management and consulting firm and president of the philanthropic Gerald Tsai Foundation, was inspired to give $2 million to support the new Fitness and Recreation Center because he recognized the project’s enormous potential to build further the sense of community on the Charles River Campus. “I know that this will be a very useful facility,” says Tsai, who also gave the naming gift for the Tsai Performance Center, which opened in 1989. “I am proud to be in a position to help the students.”
Like Tsai, many other friends of the University understood the promise of the Fitness and Recreation Center long before its opening and committed to help build it.
“It’s not difficult to find points of connection with donors on this project because of the nationwide interest in fitness and in total wellness,” says Christopher Reaske, vice president for development and alumni relations. “People have great interest now in seeing students stay in shape and learn good lifestyle habits.”
Reaske says that the center should attract alumni to activities on campus as well, strengthening their ties to the University. “Alumni are going to feel hugely proud of this facility,” he says.
Adds Mike Lynch, athletics director and a key fundraiser for the Student Village and the Fitness and Recreation Center: “The people who have supported this center are visionaries in the sense that they could see the transforming effect that this project would have for our campus. Everyone knew that this was a unique opportunity to create a new center of campus, where members of the community could gather like never before.”
Below is a list of the philanthropic gifts so far supporting the Fitness and Recreation Center. Information about more giving opportunities is available at www.building.bu.edu/giving/fitness/index.html.
Tsai Fitness Center — $2 million from honorary trustee Gerald Tsai, Jr. (CAS’49, GRS’49, Hon.’03).
Christopher and Alice Barreca Climbing Wall — $500,000 from trustee Christopher Barreca (DGE’50, LAW’53) and his wife, Alice (SAR’53).
Ryan Center for Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation — $500,000 from trustee Sharon Goode Ryan (SAR’70) and her husband, Robert.
Elevated Jogging Track — $250,000 from trustee JoAnn McGrath and her late husband, David.
Welcome Desk — $100,000 given anonymously in memory of Thomas R. Walsh.
Juice Bar — $100,000 from the family of trustee Sid Feltenstein (COM’62).
Dance Theatre Art Gallery — $100,000 from Francesca Carriuolo, wife of the late Christopher Carriuolo (SMG’42), a former trustee.
Men’s Locker Room — $50,000 gift from former trustee Frederick Kobrick (CAS’79).
Outdoor Program Center — $50,000 given anonymously in memory of Muriel M. Boelsen Bach (SAR’46).
1
April 2005
Boston University
Office of University Relations