Boston College Alum Gives $27-Million Gift, U. of Penn. Gets $25-Million

A Boston College alumnus who went on to lead several California technology companies has donated $15-million to the university and $12-million to its affiliated high school, The Boston Globe reports.

Pat Cadigan said the education he received at B.C. and Boston College High School set him on a path that saw him hold top executive posts at the Electronic Engineering Company of California, Gateway Communications, and Linear Instruments., among other high-tech firms.

The gifts will fund an arts and recreation building at the high school and an alumni center set to open in June at Boston College, both of which will be named for the donor, a Cambridge, Mass., native.

In other education news, a pair of University of Pennsylvania graduates have donated $25-million to the school for a research facility to investigate and treat hereditary cancers, The Philadelphia Inquirer writes.

The planned Basser Research Center will be named for Faith Basser, the sister of co-donor Mindy Gray. Ms. Brasser died of ovarian cancer caused by a gene mutation.

Ms. Gray and her husband, Jon Gray, an executive at New York investment firm Blackstone Group, are 1992 Penn alumni.