State, UCLA officials honor Gonda facility at ceremony

Monday, 5/19/97 State, UCLA officials honor Gonda facility at
ceremony Labs will support genetics, neuroscience research

By Kathryn Combs Daily Bruin Contributor We believe in giving
back as thanks for our own good fortune in this country. We are
grateful for the opportunity to share the American dream with
others around the world. — Leslie and Susan Gonda When Leslie and
Susan Gonda came to the United States in 1963, they brought with
them the will to survive. After enduring the terrors of the
Holocaust, from concentration camps to forced labor camps, the two
married and migrated to Venezuela in 1947, where Leslie found
success in fields such as banking, real estate and manufacturing.
Raising a son and two daughters, the Gondas were up to any
challenge. Now as a result of their successes, they have chosen to
share their good fortune. Due to a $45 million donation from the
Leslie and Susan Gonda Foundation, the UCLA Center for Health
Sciences "topped off" its newest architectural addition last
Thursday. When completed in the fall of 1998, the Gonda
(Goldschmeid) Neuroscience and Genetics Research Center, located on
the corner of Circle Drive and Westwood Boulevard, will provide
123,000 square feet of office and laboratory space to UCLA
researchers. The facility will house both the UCLA Brain Research
Institute and the newly developed Department of Human Genetics, and
is the first step in future South Campus renovations. "The first
piece of the rebuilding of South Campus is this most extraordinary
research building," said Dr. Gerald Levey, dean of the UCLA School
of Medicine. "Without this building, nothing that we have outlined
as our goals for the 21st century could have been accomplished,"
Levey added, who is also provost for the medical sciences at UCLA.
According to university officials, this donation is the largest
private charitable gift ever contributed by a single donor in the
history of the University of California. In 1988, the Gonda family
founded the Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmeid) Foundation,
dedicated to the memory of family members lost during the
Holocaust. Using Gonda’s Old World name of Goldschmeid, the
foundation aims to support "important educational programs and
medical research in this country and abroad so future generations
will be prepared to meet the growing needs of a competitive world."
Research programs at UCLA benefiting from the Gondas’ support
include vascular diseases, virology, genetics and neuroscience.
"When I came to UCLA in 1994, we clearly established the following
goals," said Levey. "Those are neuroscience, genetics, aging,
cancer, cardiovascular disease, women’s and men’s health, and
bringing our students and physicians into the learning of the 21st
century through multimedia techniques," Levey said. Aside from
their contributions to UCLA, the Leslie and Susan Gonda Foundation
also contributes to organizations such as the Mayo Clinic in
Rochester, Minnesota, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,
the Gonda Education Center and the planned Mayo/ Gonda
(Goldschmeid) Integration Center. The Gonda (Goldschmeid)
Neuroscience and Genetics Research Center was designed by Robert
Venturi in collaboration with architects Lee, Burkhart and Liu.
Construction began in August 1996. The seven-story facility will
provide UCLA with 33 state-of-the-art laboratories, equipped with
the most up-to-date technology, enabling researchers to keep up
with the changing needs of the 21st century. "The research which is
performed here will bring together scientists from the entire
campus and will ring in an era of unsurpassed research," Chancellor
Charles Young said. "The facility will provide an educational focus
for students, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the
years to come … helping us to build the future of education in
medicine … as UCLA embarks on a capital campaign which will
define its role in education and research worldwide in to the 21st
century," Young added. Also present at the ceremony was Lt. Gov.
Gray Davis. "Everything you have done reflects a great credit on
you and your family (because) you succeeded through your own
intellect, courage and hard work and now as many times in the past
that you have felt the need to give something back," Davis said.
"This time it is the largest private gift in UC philanthropy,"said
Davis. "I signed a proclamation that honored Leslie and Susan Gonda
for their generosity to the funding of global programs to meet the
growing needs of vascular, diabetes, genetics and neuroscience
research," said Davis. "I also resolved that the 15th of May, 1997,
would be Leslie and Susan Gonda Day in the state of California.
There is not enough that we can do to honor you because you
represent all that is good in America." Davis concluded. JAMIE
SCANLON-JACOBS Lt. Gray Davis dedicates May 17, 1997 as Gonda Day.
Previous Daily Bruin stories: $45 million gift yields new research
center ,May 21, 1996 Related Links Still Growing : Current
Construction Projects at UCLA