Tufts University Receives Largest Gift In History

Cummings Foundation to Invest $50 Million in Veterinary School.

Medford/Somerville, Mass. [09.08.04] Tufts University officials today announced that Cummings Foundation, Inc., has committed to investing $50 million in the University’s veterinary school over the next 15 years.

The gift is the largest in the history of Tufts University and believed to be the largest gift ever made to a veterinary school in the US. The gift also ranks among the largest ever to a Massachusetts college or university.

In recognition of the gift, the veterinary school will be renamed the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in a ceremony to be held next spring.

“Tufts is enormously grateful to Cummings Foundation for this extraordinary gift,” said Tufts University President Lawrence S. Bacow.

“One measure of a just society is how well it takes care of those that cannot take care of themselves. People who devote their lives to animals are among the most caring and unselfish among us. The Cummings Foundation gift appropriately recognizes their selfless commitment,” he added.

“The mission of Cummings Foundation is to invest in organizations that make contributions to our society,” said William S. Cummings, president of the Cummings Foundation. "We were moved to recommend this commitment due to the practical, entrepreneurial spirit of Tufts University in general, and Tufts Veterinary School in particular. This collaboration will help to provide the resources necessary for the school to sustain its vision. We are honored to support this world class institution of higher learning.”

“This gift will help fund needed capital improvements, provide matching funds in support of major research proposals, and greatly strengthen both the educational and clinical mission of the School,” said Dr. Philip Kosch, Dean. “I cannot thank Cummings Foundation enough for its vote of confidence in the faculty, staff and students who make Tufts Veterinary School the special place that it is.”

William S. Cummings is the president of Cummings Foundation and founder of Cummings Properties, LLC. He is a graduate and trustee emeritus of Tufts University and was an overseer of Tufts Medical School. He was the founder and publisher of three community newspapers and has been involved in many philanthropic activities including 25 years as a director of the Woburn Boys and Girls Club.

He is the recipient of the Tufts University Distinguished Service Award, the highest award the University gives to an alumnus. In 1998 he was named Real Estate Entrepreneur of the Year for New England by Ernst & Young. Cummings Foundation previously endowed the Cummings Family Chair in Entrepreneurship and Business Economics at Tufts.

Cummings Properties operates about 8 million square feet of office, laboratory and research space in eastern Massachusetts, which it leases to about 1,700 tenants. Cummings noted that part of his special interest in the veterinary school stems from the vital role of veterinarians in situations where animals are required in the humane
development of life-saving drugs.

At the only veterinary school in New England, Tufts veterinary clinicians and scientists work tirelessly to improve animal health, human health and ecosystem health, in the region and around the globe.

The faculty in the Henry and Lois Foster Hospital for Small Animals and the Hospital for Large Animals are developing and applying the latest technologies to diagnose and treat diseases in companion animals and agricultural species. They have done pioneering work in diagnostic imaging, renal dialysis, orthopedics, pulmonary diagnostics, critical care and new chemotherapies.

Research at the school is helping to eradicate cattle disease and famine in Africa and Asia where indigenous populations are reliant upon cattle for sustenance.

Since many of the world’s emerging infectious diseases and most bioterrorist agents are animal or zoonotic diseases transmitted from animals to people, Tufts’ infectious disease research program is working to better understand and treat these most serious threats to human health. Examples of these zoonotic diseases include the West Nile virus and rabies.

The school’s Division of Infectious Diseases is recognized for research on infections associated with diseases of childhood and infections that threaten people with compromised immunity as a result of malnutrition, HIV/AIDS or other factors. Such diseases include E.coli infections, salmonellosis and cryptosporidiosis.

The division also has leading researchers investigating malaria, Lyme disease and tularemia. Last year, the veterinary school was awarded a $25 million contract from the National Institutes of Health to establish centers to study food and waterborne diseases and botulism therapies.

The Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine was founded in partnership with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 26 years ago to provide an opportunity for veterinary education for Massachusetts students.

Each year one half of the seats in the class are reserved for Massachusetts residents who receive a tuition discount. Built on surplus state land, Tufts raised 100 percent of the capital necessary to build the veterinary school.

The school receives annual operating support from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, producing one of the most successful public/private higher education partnerships in the nation.

The school also actively pursues alliances and partnerships with industry, other universities, government laboratories and non-governmental organizations to achieve a multi-disciplinary team approach to scientific inquiry.

The Cummings gift will complement the state funding to enable the school to continue its tradition of providing one of the finest veterinary educations in the world.