Donor profiles
Our donors are exceptional - so are you
Whatever their motivation to give, our donors are exceptional. Here are a few of their stories:
Peter B. Gustavson
Peter B. Gustavson is the founder of Custom House, a Victoria-based global foreign exchange payments powerhouse. He sold the company in 2009 to Western Union for US $370 million. Gustavson has been involved with the business school since 2003 as an employer, member of its advisory board and chair of the Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year Award event that he helped establish in 2004.
In March 2010, Peter B. Gustavson made a historic gift to UVic Business of $10 million. This is the largest philanthropic gift ever to UVic Business and will support scholarships, professorships, research and innovation at the Faculty of Business. Read the press release (pdf)
David Black
David Black started building the Black Press Publishing empire in 1975 with the purchase of his father’s newspaper in Williams Lake, BC. He has never forgotten his small town roots, or the importance of building a strong local economy in small communities. Black now owns more than 150 papers and is giving back to small communities in BC by helping to defray some of the costs of post-secondary education.
In April 2008, David Black established scholarships for students entering the UVic Bachelor of Commerce program – The Black Press Business Scholarship. Every year, 37 business students living in the communities where Black Press publishes will each receive a $5,000 scholarship from the initiative. Read the full story (pdf)
Kenzie Kwong
Every once in a while, people come along who have that X factor: an inner drive to succeed and push back boundaries; a yearning to trail-blaze and make the world a better place—and a desire to inspire others to do the same. Rose Won Lau was one such person. Throughout her life, Rose championed the cause for Chinese people to be treated as equals in the world. Kenzie Kwong, Rose’s daughter, set up the Rose Won Lau Business Scholarship at UVic in honour of her mother in 2007.
The scholarship, which gives preference to female students of Chinese ancestry, offers financial assistance of up to $6,000 for students planning to study or do a co-op work term in China. Kwong says the opportunity is all about rediscovering heritage, while developing both sports and life skills—in the spirit of its namesake. “I want the students to feel proud that they’ve been awarded this scholarship, not for the money but for what it represents—my mother’s hopes and dreams,” says Kwong. Read the full story (pdf)
Mary Orr
Mary Orr of Vancouver made a gift to UVic Business as a memorial to her husband Thomas Frederick (Bill) Orr, a well-respected leader in the Vancouver business community. Orr says her grandson, an Alum of Peter B. Gustavson School of Business,inspired her to make the gift. “I’ve seen first-hand how he has benefited from the business education he received at UVic,” she says. “We need leaders in the business world with a broad-based education, and I could see he was having an excellent all-round experience at UVic. I wanted to help future students have that same opportunity.”
Read the full story (pdf)
Marjorie Yeats
When her husband passed away in 1994, Marjorie Yeats decided to establish a legacy in his name. “Lawrence was talented, successful and hard-working, but never had the opporunity for an education,” she says. To honour his enterprising spirit, she decided to support business education students who would otherwise not have the opportunity to attend a post-secondary institution. Each year through the Marjorie and Lawrence Yeats Bursary, students receive financial support that makes their education possible. Read the full story (pdf)
