NEW
YORK: An Indian American, a native of Amritsar, has become the top individual
donor to a US university, his alma mater, by gifting it nearly $11
million.

John P. Kapoor, a
pharmaceutical entrepreneur, bequested 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.

The gift will support
construction of a new home for the Buffalo University's nationally ranked
pharmacy school, as well as to fund research, student financial aid and an
emerging-technologies
fund.

While making the bequest,
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."

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.

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 honour his alma mater with
another truly extraordinary gift that will help us take the school to even
greater heights of excellence," Simpson
said.

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
state-of-the-art instrumentation core and graduate fellowships at the Buffalo
University.

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."

The honours he has
received include the American Cancer Society International Achievement Award for
Philanthropy and the San Diego Indian American Society Chakra
Award.

 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indians_Abroad/Indian_American_gives_11_mn_to_US_varsity/articleshow/3128385.cms