UC-Irvine priest-faculty member makes $10 million gift

by Tom Gallagher on Oct. 20, 2011

In the good news department, the Orange County Business Journal is reporting:

A University of California, Irvine, professor who is an ordained Roman Catholic priest and has worked to establish common ground between science and religion in the debate over evolution donated $10 million to the School of Biological Sciences there.

Francisco J. Ayala will fund the gift—the largest by a faculty member in UCI's 46-year history—from a vineyard he has owned for decades.

"When you can do good things, you should do them," said Ayala, a native of Spain, in a statement. "This is a way of showing my gratitude to this university, which has been so good to me, where I have been able to do my research and teach wonderful students, and where I have been honored in so many ways. In a larger context, it's a way of expressing my gratitude to this country. I came to the United States as a student, with no intention to stay, and yet here I am."

Ayala serves as the Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences, a position endowed by the chairman of Newport Beach-based developer Irvine Company. The 77-year-old was ordained as a priest in the Dominican Order, and started his scientific career by teaching himself about genetics.

How does a Domincan own a

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Oct. 20, 2011.

How does a Domincan own a vineyard and have $10 million to donate?
Vow of poverty?!
What's the deal here?

Prof. Ayala left the

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Oct. 20, 2011.

Prof. Ayala left the priesthood, soon after ordination, I think about a year or so afterwards, and so has not been under a vow of poverty form many decades.

left the priesthood or the

Submitted by charles j scanlon (not verified) on Oct. 21, 2011.

left the priesthood or the order?

The Lord will provide.

Submitted by Austin (not verified) on Oct. 21, 2011.

The Lord will provide.

Wikipedia's short biography

Submitted by Mark Andrews (not verified) on Oct. 21, 2011.

Wikipedia's short biography says Ayala was a Dominican, ordained in 1960. He left the priesthood that same year to begin his academic, scientific career in the U.S. Ayala is twice-married, divorced once and father to 2 grown children. So, while a Roman Catholic priest in the formal sense, he has had a secular career for 51 years.

Ordained, married, divorced,

Submitted by friscoeddie (not verified) on Oct. 21, 2011.

Ordained, married, divorced, rich, father, foreign born, I say we have a Medici among us.

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