Dr. John Kapoor donates $10.8 million to US University

From left, John Kapoor and Wayne K. Anderson,
dean of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Dr. John Kapoor, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur has become the top individual donor to a US university, his alma mater, by gifting it nearly $11 million. The Punjab-born Indian American bequeathed the money to the State University of New York at Buffalo, which had offered him a graduate fellowship in the 1960s when the Bombay University graduate could not afford to pay for his education. When John Kapoor graduated from Bombay University in the 1960s, he had hoped to continue his studies in the United States but could not afford to pay for it. The State University of New York at Buffalo offered him a graduate fellowship at that time.

The Amritsar-born Kapoor earned his doctorate in medicinal chemistry in 1972 at the university and went on to become an entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical industry. But he never forgot his alma mater. In 2000, he gave it $5 million and increased it to $10.8 million last month. The gift, issued as a challenge to encourage others to follow his exemplary lead will support construction of a new home for the university’s nationally ranked pharmacy school as well as fund research, student financial aid and an emerging-technologies fund. While making the offer, Kapoor said, ‘’I owe so much to this university. Fortunately, I am in a position to help and the university is on the top of my list.’’

John B Simpson, president of the university and Wayne K Anderson, dean, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences thanked Kapoor. ‘’It’s a point of substantial pride for us that our pharmacy school provided the foundation for Dr. Kapoor’s remarkable career in the pharmaceutical industry. It is very significant to our university that he has chosen to honor his alma mater with another truly extraordinary gift that will help us take the school to even greater heights of excellence,’’ Simpson said.

The UB pharmacy school is preparing for its eventual move to the south campus where it will join the university’s four other health science schools, dental medicine, medicine, nursing and public health that constitute the UB Academic Health Centre. The pharmacy school’s new home will be funded by a private-public partnership with the state of New York providing $46 million for construction and the remainder coming from the university and private investments. It will be the first UB professional school to relocate to the City of Buffalo since the construction of the North Campus in Amherst in the 1970s. The renovated building is to be completed in 2011. The building will be named the John Kapoor Hall.

Kapoor began his corporate career on Grand Island, New York as general manager for Lyphomed, a unit of Stone Container Corp. He was named president of the division in 1980 and in 1981 he bought it for $2.7 million. He took the company’s sales from $4 million to $172 million before eventually selling it. With the profits, he formed EJ Financial Enterprises Inc, which invests in healthcare startups.

Kapoor and his late wife, Editha, a Grand Island native, ran the John and Editha Kapoor Charitable Foundation to support children and youth services, higher education, hospitals and other causes in India. Since 1986, the Foundation has funded research, a stateof- the-art instrumentation core and graduate fellowships at the Buffalo University. Other contributions provided support for five Kapoor Fellows in the pharmacy school. The Foundation’s support also was critical to the school’s successful completion of a Kresge Foundation Challenge Grant for $500,000 to pay for additional equipment. “It is my privilege to help UB continue at the leading edge of innovation in pharmaceutical sciences education,” Kapoor said. “The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences has played a significant role in shaping my career and it is my honor to be part of its future.”

Among the honors he has received include the American Cancer Society International Achievement Award for Philanthropy and the San Diego Indian American Society Chakra Award. Kapoor remembered that without the university’s support ‘’it would have been impossible for me to come to the US to pursue higher education. I received tremendous support and encouragement from the faculty at the school as I tried to adjust to a different system of education. I also learned a great deal about this country at the university.’’

BY AJAY GHOSH