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Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 17:25:25 -0000
From: Kelly Ford <[log in to unmask]>
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Subject: [disability-news] Software Firm Founder,
     Wife to Give $250 Million to University of Colorado

Software Firm Founder, Wife to Give $250 Million to University of
Colorado
John Boudreau

01/17/2001
KRTBN Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News: San Jose Mercury News -
California
Copyright (C) 2001 KRTBN Knight Ridder Tribune Business News

  In the largest gift of its kind, the founder of a San Jose business
software company announced Tuesday he and his wife are giving the
University of Colorado a quarter-billion dollars. The endowment will
be
used to develop wireless devices that will help people with mental
disorders better navigate through life.

  Bill Coleman, the 53-year-old chairman of BEA Systems, and his wife,
Claudia, a former manager with Hewlett-Packard Co., will make the $250
million donation over a five-year period. While some of the money will
fund capital projects, such as renovating a lab, and faculty
positions,
the bulk is earmarked for an endowment. The Coleman Institute for
Cognitive Disabilities will finance cross-disciplinary research, from
psychiatry and genetics to computer science and electrical
engineering.
  The Colemans, who have homes in Los Altos and Colorado, are giving a
substantial chunk of their wealth; Bill Coleman owns about $630
million
of stock in BEA Systems, an e-business infrastructure software
company.
The donation will be made primarily in BEA Systems stock.

  "That's a ton of money," said Scott Jaschik, editor of the Chronicle
of Higher Education, a publication for the university community that
tracks giving. "It would make it the largest gift to a public
university."

  Previously, the largest such donation was up to $240 million in
stocks, land and other assets to the University of California-San
Francisco from the estate of Larry L. Hillblom. The 1998 gift
supported
medical research.

  "This is going to allow us to greatly enhance our research
reputation
at the same time we address an incredibly important social issue,"
said
University of Colorado president Elizabeth Hoffman. "As the population
ages, a larger number of Americans will suffer from cognitive
disabilities," from strokes to Alzheimer's disease, she added.

  "We will have a revolutionary impact on assistive technology devices
and understanding cognitive disabilities," said Michael Lightner,
associate dean for special projects at Colorado University's College
of
Engineering and Applied Science. "Bill's gift is going to light a fire
under a lot of people."

  In the spirit of the New Philanthropy, Coleman is not financing a
bricks-and-mortar institution; rather, the institute will draw experts
together. "Our job will be to identify people doing work across the
four
campuses of our university system and bring them together to focus on
cognitive disabilities -- not under a roof but under an idea,"
Lightner
said.

  The Colemans, who count a niece among the 20 million Americans with
a
cognitive disability, chose the university because of its research in
that field. The Colemans also gave several million dollars to the
university for earlier projects in cognitive research.

  Among the goals of the grant, Bill Coleman said, is the development
of
handheld "smart" gadgets that could help people with impaired
reasoning
skills be more mobile. For instance, if a person misses a bus, the
device could tell him when the next one will arrive and even notify
his
work supervisor to say he will be late. Such equipment could be a year
or two away from large-scale testing. The institute will also develop
technology to better understand the brain structure of people with
such
disabilities as Down's syndrome, traumatic head injuries and autism.

  The devices the institute will promote, Lightner said, are expected
to
be highly adaptive to each individual and his or her environment. They
will communicate with other devices, using technologies such as
Bluetooth, a radio-based system that transfers digital data over very
short distances.

  Those with mental disorders, who often can't effectively say how
they
feel, could do so indirectly with this technology, he said. If someone
stops watching a favorite TV show, that information could be relayed
back to a monitoring computer, which could alert medical
professionals.
"We know their lifestyles or patterns," Lightner said. "If we see that
pattern changing -- they are no longer eating their favorite food --
that indicates they might be getting depressed."

  The creation of the institute comes at a time of great advancement
in
both brain research and computer networking technology. "We are trying
to create a center of excellence, incorporating technology and
engineering that can support any mental disability," Bill Coleman
said.

  The interest on the endowment is projected to yield about 5 percent
every year. That money will be used to attract matching government and
foundation grants. Like the nation's space program, which spun off
products from Teflon to Tang, Bill Coleman believes the institute will
be able to leverage its research by licensing and selling intellectual
property rights to companies who see commercial applications for these
technologies. Those profits, in turn, will be recycled to fund more
research.

  The Colemans represent the best of the new industrialists, said
David
Braddock, a leading expert on cognitive disabilities at the University
of Illinois and consultant to the institute. The couple are using
their
wealth to link technological advancements to those who endure days of
quiet suffering. "It's a thing of poetic beauty," he said.

  By going public with his gift, Coleman can leverage his
philanthropic
impulses, said Gib Myers, Silicon Valley venture capitalist and
founder
of the Entrepreneur's Foundation, which intends to create a $1 billion
endowment in the next 10 years based on the pre-IPO stock of start-
ups.
"That's just staggering," he said. "This has enormous ramifications in
terms of influencing other people. It makes you feel, `Maybe I could
do
more.' "

  The Colemans, who have a modest family foundation and up until this
point have avoided high-profile giving, say their philanthropy is
inspired by David Packard and William Hewlett, the Silicon Valley
founding fathers who set the standard for philanthropy and civic
commitment. Indeed, the Colemans indicate they plan on giving away
significantly more.

  "There is fulfillment to it," Coleman said. "You get more
fulfillment
out of watching things you are doing affect other people's lives than
making the next million dollars."