Allen Wade Parker, a man living in San Francisco, recently donated $50,000 to UB for DNA research. Parker has no solid ties to UB and has never even seen the school.
Parker's gift will be used by UB's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to further the Department of Structural Biology's research in genomics, and it will most likely aid in cancer research.
According to Linda Corder, associate dean for Alumni Affairs and Development for the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, it was not until he talked to his physician, Dr. Martin Terplan, a graduate of UB's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, that he thought of donating the money to UB.
"It's relatively unusual for someone who has no direct tie to the school to make a gift of that magnitude," said Corder.
Parker, a graduate of the University of Washington, had intended to donate the money to his alma mater, but he said he also wanted to help out another school involved in scientific research.
"I thought if I gave someone a helping hand somewhere it would amount to something," said the 92-year-old Parker.
The project resulting from Parker's donation will involve a collaboration between UB's Department of Structural Biology at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI) and Roswell Park Cancer Institute, as well as the UB's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, said Tava Shanshuk, director of Public Relations at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute.
"In simple terms, it will help us understand certain diseases better by understanding gene regulation," said Shanshuk.
The donation is part of UB's "Generation to Generation" $250 million fundraising campaign that has been going on for the past three years. The campaign is in its final year and as of Sept. 13, the campaign has generated $195,501,324, according to the UB Development Web site.
Terplan, who has contributed funds to UB as well, is aware of the medical school's fundraising effort, as he is part of the advisory committee to the dean of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Science.
In addition to informing Parker about UB's need for research funding, Terplan told Parker of the inadequate support that many public universities receive from New York State and also that his donation would yield more visible results.
"I thought that his gift would be much more important to an under-endowed school such as UB, rather than a school that was better endowed and wouldn't appreciate it as much," Terplan said. "I thought the pleasure to him would be greater."
According to Shanshuk, Parker donated with the idea that UB might collaborate with the University of Washington, which is also doing research in the field.
"We have already made some collaborations with the University of Washington, but for the most part, the gift he made to UB was separate from Washington," said Shanshuk.
Parker, who manufactured machinery prior to his retirement, said that although he has never been involved in research, he understands a need to discover and explore.
"There's a lot of things that we don't know about science that's pervasive," Parker said. "I don't think enough has been discovered that is pertinent to the American way of life."
According to Parker, the need to explore science is great, and there is always the possibility of making an important discovery during the research process.
"When you discover one thing you may accidentally discover a hundred things more - that's the way science works," said Parker. "We'll never stop asking questions."
