University alumnus and former head of the largest gold-producing company in the world, Ron Camber, took the opportunity yesterday to give something back to the University.
Cambre, former CEO of Newmont Mining Corp. in Denver, Colo., the largest gold-producing company in the world, donated $1.25 million to the College of Engineering.
The money will go toward a $26 million new chemical engineering building that the college hopes to begin building next year, said Scott Madere, public relations director for the LSU Foundation.
Cambre donated $1 million of his own money, and his former company contributed an additional $250,000.
Cambre graduated from the University in 1960 with a degree in chemical engineering. He graduated from Harvard University in 1976 with a master’s in business management.
“This is where he got his big start,” said Edward Steimel, development director for the LSU Foundation.
In a press conference Thursday, Cambre said he and his wife, Gail, have “been blessed by LSU.”
“We have been everywhere and done everything, and it all emanates back toward the education we received here,” Cambre said.
Cambre said it was a “privilege” to participate in the new building’s funding and promised to urge Louisiana to continue funding this project and others.
“I’m not going to give up on the governor,” Cambre said.
Madere said this is the beginning of a fund-raising drive among University alumni and “friends.”
“We are hoping the gift will serve as a catalyst to get the funding secured for this building,” Madere said.
The building is still in the early planning stages and will increase the Chemical Engineering department’s capacity by 93 percent by adding about 30 laboratories, Steimel said.
Steimel said the architectural drawings have been completed for the three-story building to be built where the forestry building is now. The forestry building will be knocked down in preparation for the new chemical engineering building.
Madere said the administration is trying to get enough public funding in order to convince the state to “kick in the rest.”
The state has limited its funds and demanded that the University obtain private funding instead, Chancellor Sean O’Keefe added.
“The state tells us that our demands are high and their resources are constrained,” O’Keefe said.
O’Keefe called Cambre’s donation “an extraordinary gift and a tremendous boost” to long-overdue funds.