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...