Medical School nets $21m gift

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

he largest private gift in University history, a $21 million donation from a Framingham couple, was accepted by the Medical School last week during ceremonies at the State House.

     Jack Blais and his wife, Shelley, announced Oct. 23 that they would pledge $15 million to the Medical School's new research laboratory to name the just opened facility after Worcester campus Chancellor Aaron Lazare. The Blaises had already said they would donate $6 million, but upped their contribution during a dinner celebrating the opening of the lab.

     On Wednesday, Acting Gov. Jane Swift and House Speaker Thomas Finneran joined President William M. Bulger and University trustees at the State House to honor the Blaises for their generosity.

     University officials said the Blaises' gift will allow the Medical School to hire 100 researchers and 1,000 staff for the $100 million, 360,000-square-foot research facility which will be devoted to studies of genetics, cancer, neuroscience and internal medicine.

     Jack Blais is the founder of an optical coating corporation that was purchased last year by Corning.

     Until the Blaises' gift, the largest received by the University was a $6 million donation to the Amherst campus by alumnus Eugene M. Isenberg, owner of an oil-drilling equipment company.