UConn Advance - July 18, 2005 - Chase Family Donates $1.75 Million To Law School, Health Center

A prominent Connecticut family has made two gifts totaling $1.75 million to the School of Law and the Health Center. Both gifts are eligible to be submitted to the state matching endowment gift program, which could ultimately bring the total to more than $2 million.

The gifts were made by the Chase family, which has a long history of supporting the University, including a gift that established the Chase Family Chair in Juvenile Diabetes at the Health Center in 1984.

“These two very generous gifts represent a substantial new investment in the University,” said University President Philip E. Austin. “We are deeply grateful for the family’s significant commitment to our institution.”

“Private philanthropy is perhaps the differentiating factor between a very good public university and a great one,” he added, “and the Chase family’s gifts for research, teaching, and public service at UConn will ultimately benefit countless individuals whose lives the University touches.”

One million dollars of the family’s gift will provide endowment support for the Health Center’s signature program in musculoskeletal medicine, led by Dr. Lawrence Raisz. The naming of the Chase Family Skeletal Biology Research Laboratories and the Chase Family Research Floor, subject to approval by the Board of Trustees, will recognize the family’s generosity. The laboratories will be housed on the fourth floor of the Health Center’s new Medical Arts and Research Building.

The state-of-the-art laboratories will advance new cures and treatments for bone and joint diseases, bringing together researchers, surgeons, and experts in related fields.

David T. Chase, the founder of Chase Enterprises in Hartford, he and his wife Rhoda chose to make the gift “in recognition of the Health Center’s tremendous value as a resource for high quality care to the Connecticut community and our family, and for the importance of UConn’s groundbreaking research in this area of medicine.”

The family’s gift of $750,000 to the law school establishes the Cheryl A. Chase Endowment, which will provide programmatic support to the school. The law school’s administration building will be named Cheryl A. Chase Hall, subject to Board of Trustees approval, in recognition of the gift. In addition to the dean’s office and other major administrative offices, Chase Hall houses high-tech classrooms.

Cheryl Chase, who earned her J.D. at the UConn School of Law in 1978, is executive vice president and general counsel of Chase Enterprises. She says she was inspired to make the gift for several reasons.

“My family and I believe strongly in the power of education and service to our community. I am grateful for the excellent legal education I received as a law student and I am delighted to play an important role in shaping the future of this great institution,” she said.

The Chase family’s foundations have supported the University for many years.