Alumni J. David and Patricia Rogers of Darien, Conn., have made a $4 million gift toward construction of the new Business Building on the University Park campus. David Rogers is former managing director of equities trading at Goldman Sachs and Co. He left in 2001 to found J.D. Capital Management LLC, an investment firm located in Greenwich, Conn.
The Business Building will be the largest academic building on the campus and part of one of the largest business school complexes in the nation. The structure is projected to cost $60 million, which includes $35 million in University funds and $25 million in private support. The Smeal College of Business Administration enrolls more than 6,000 students. Completion and occupancy of the new facility is scheduled by the fall of 2005.
David Rogers earned his bachelor's degree in accounting in 1978 and a master of business administration in 1980 from the University. Patricia Rogers graduated from the University in 1979 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
The Rogers' gift makes them the largest individual donors to The Smeal College of Business Administration thus far in the Grand Destiny campaign, the University's seven-year effort to raise $1.3 billion in private support University-wide.
The Business Building gift is the Rogers' third to the campaign. Previously, they endowed a graduate fellowship for MBA students and gave $1.1 million to help establish The Smeal College Trading Room, a 1,520-square-foot facility which opened last spring and functions as a classroom as well as a research facility.