Posted on 10/26/2006 2:07:23 PM PDT by Coleus
Richard Shindell has never loved science. Yet the Pennsylvania financier is about to become one of the most significant benefactors of public research in New Jersey. The world may see the silver-haired, 70-year-old Rutgers University graduate as another driven millionaire from the world of high finance. But inside, Shindell says, he's still the cash-strapped Kearny kid who had to sell a prized fishing boat he had built with his father -- for $241, a tidy sum at the time -- to finish his college education.
Shindell has been a regular benefactor to Rutgers ever since, donating steadily to programs supporting its glee club and athletic divisions. But during a campus tour earlier this year, when Shindell walked into the laboratory of world-renowned spinal cord researcher Wise Young, he decided "to do something that I think will have an impact." Shindell made a $3 million commitment to establish an endowed chair in neuroscience at the university.
"There is hope here," Shindell said during a recent visit to the W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, where Young and others conduct their leading-edge research and are participating in clinical trials using ADULT STEM CELLS to treat paralysis. The donation will become official on Oct. 30 when Shindell will join the faculty and staff of Rutgers University in Kirkpatrick Chapel during one of its rare investiture ceremonies. The solemn but celebratory event will honor Shindell for his largesse and officially establish an endowed chair known as the "Richard H. Shindell in Neuroscience Chair." Young, who will hold the chair, is a scientist Rutgers doesn't want to lose. "It's a terribly important gift," said Carol Herring, president of the Rutgers University Foundation. "Endowed chairs allow us to both retain and attract the very best people in their fields."
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
He's contributing for adult stem cells because it works.
It's money well spent.
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