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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/34132/full/34132/local-donor-gives-30-million-to-weizmann-institute/ <br /><br /> <b>Local donor gives $30 million to Weizmann Institute</b> <br /> Friday, January 11, 2008 | by <p>joe eskenazi </p> <br /><br /><p>Lorry Lokey has an apology to make. He plans to live for another 37 years, until he’s 117, so he has to save some money “to cover my medical insurance.” <br /><br /> Other than that, every dollar seems to be fair game. While many people have paid lip service to the phrase “you can’t take it with you,” Lokey is living the maxim to the fullest.<br /><br /> This week the Atherton philanthropist announced the pledge of a cool $30 million to Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science to create a pre-clinical research facility and research school of biochemical sciences in his name. <br /><br /> Keep in mind, this massive donation comes on the heels of a 2006 gift of $25 million to the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. <br /><br /> “I ask them what they need,” Lokey said of his practice of doling out gifts to Israeli scientific institutions. “If they’re smart, they give a high figure.” <br /><br /> Lokey founded the news service BusinessWire in 1961 with a $1,500 investment in a teletype machine, a phone and an office. In March of ‘06 he sealed a deal with Warren Buffet, selling his “startup” for more than half a billion dollars (although he still shows up at work almost every day). <br /><br /> Generous gift-giving has been Lokey’s style for the past 20 years. In the recent past, he has donated millions to the Leo Baeck School in Israel, the University of Oregon, Stanford University, the Peninsula Jewish Community Center and Peninsula Temple Sholom. His gift to Peninsula Temple Sholom, where he attends, funded the Burlingame synagogue’s religious school. The school was named not after Lokey but after Helen Raiskin, the deceased wife of longtime Rabbi Gerald Raiskin (who has since died as well). <br /><br /> Lokey explains that he gave so much to Weizmann and the Technion because he had meant to give the gifts for a long while. “I want to be around and see that money work. I don’t want to leave a legacy for someone else. I want to see the results,” he said. <br /><br /> “I’ve given away so much money I’ll never use it up on income tax credit, and I don’t give a damn. I want to put the money to work.” <br /><br /> Professor Daniel Zajfman, Weizmann’s president, will see to it that he does. “Lorry Lokey understands that the partnership between science and philanthropy has the potential to improve dramatically the quality of our lives and reduce human suffering,” he said. <br /><br /> Lokey, who gives his age as 80 and three quarters (“I’m not 80, don’t make a kid of me”) doesn’t foresee another massive gift in the immediate future. He expects his next flourish of generosity will be directed at Ben-Gurion University in Israel’s Negev. Projects of special interest include wind power and water reclamation. <br /><br /> He also noted, matter-of-factly, that he wouldn’t mind erecting another building devoted to stem cell research at Stanford, his alma mater. <br /><br /> “Nowadays, not only in Israel but in this country, research universities are blending sciences into other sciences and setting up new facilities to catch up with the times and get ahead,” he said. <br /><br /> When asked why others with his means don’t give away money so readily, Lokey said he didn’t know. “But they should,” he added. “It’s sad.”</p> <p> </p>

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