Marvin Caruthers, a University of Colorado professor who became a millionaire through biotechnology innovations, today donated $20 million to the university, to help build an interdisciplinary biotechnology building on Boulder’s east campus.
“I live here and I want this community to grow and be productive,” Caruthers said.
He described his vision of a center where physicists will lunch with biologists, mathematicians will occupy offices next to chemists, and students will learn about cell signaling, prosthetics design, and the physics of the heart.
“People living next door to each other — that’s really what you need to do modern molecular biology that solves real world problems,” Caruthers said.
The gift is the largest ever given to CU boulder by a faculty member, and one of the largest gifts the university has received.
The $115 million research and teaching building will be named for Caruthers’ late wife, Jennie Smoly Caruthers, who died of cancer last year — if approved by the Board of Regents.
Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson said construction could begin in 12 to 18 months, the date depending on fund raising, which will include a $25 million request from the Colorado legislature this year.
The university asked for $23 million in construction assistance last year and was denied, Peterson said. This year’s increase reflects inflation and the rising cost of building materials, he said.
