UF's Department of Pediatrics and Rinker School of Building Construction receive

May 31, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A $2 million gift made to the College of Medicine and the College of Design, Construction and Planning at the University of Florida will help mend buildings, construct hearts and reduce pediatric diabetes.

William G. Lassiter Jr. and his wife Aneice of West Palm Beach, Fla., have given $1 million to UF’s M.E. Rinker Sr. School of Building Construction and $1 million to UF’s College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics.

“I wanted to put back something into the university that would help a lot of young people in building construction,” said William Lassiter, alumnus of the building construction program at UF and director of W.G. Lassiter Properties Inc., a major real estate development company in Palm Beach, Fla. “My wife wanted to do something for kids, so we also decided to give to the Department of Pediatrics.”

Lassiter, who graduated from UF in 1951, is also the president of Palm Beach Development Corp. and Legal Leasing Corporation and director of Gardens Park Plaza Inc. and the Beltub Park Property Owners Association Inc.

The gift to the School of Building Construction in the College of Design, Construction and Planning will endow the William G. Lassiter Jr. and Aneice R. Lassiter Professorship in Building Construction. The funds will provide spendable income to be used to support a professorship in the school.

“The resources generated by Lassiter’s endowed professorship will be used to bring outstanding
construction professionals into the classroom to share their knowledge with our students and give them a broader
exposure to the real world of construction,” said Abdol Chini, director and professor at the school.

The Lassiters also gave $600,000 to endow the William G. Lassiter Jr. and Aneice R. Lassiter Professorship in the Department of Pediatrics to support a professorship with an emphasis on congenital heart disease, and $400,000 to endow the William G. Lassiter Jr. and Aneice R. Lassiter Pediatric Diabetes Research Fund.

The gift is eligible to receive state matching funds from the State of Florida Trust Fund for Major Gifts and it will be recognized as part of President Bernie Machen’s Faculty Challenge Initiative.
“We want young men and women to further their education, graduate and go on to make good careers,” said Lassiter. “We also wish that our gift will help provide funds for someone to discover a cure for congenital heart disease or take pediatric diabetes research to another level.”