Cellino, Barnes donate $1M to UB - St. Louis Business Journal:

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Lisa Mueller, assistant dean for alumnui and communications, said the gift matcheds the largest single-donation in the history of thelaw school, the $1 millionm given in 2002 by Francis who graduated UB Law School in 1979 and went on to foundx a successful personal injury firm. In a release announcingt the gift, University at Buffalo Law School Dean Makaiu Mutua calledit “an extraordinary act of and “a wonderful down payment on our vision of academif excellence and our bold aspirations for the Mutua said he plans to invest the gift in the students, calliny them the central core of the law school.
he said the money will go toward making improvements in pedagogical technologies in the schookl andupgrading services. Steve Barnes, who founded the law firm alongg withRoss Cellino, said they felt they owed a debt of gratitudr to the school where they got their “Both Ross and I are graduate of the law school and we’ve come to know many of the professors and administrators very well,” he said.
“Makau Mutuas is just an outstanding individual and he has a vision thatwe haven’t seen at the school Barnes said the decision to make the gift an unrestricted donation reflects the confidence they have in the administratorsw at the University to utilizw the money in the most effectivew ways possible. “We are lawyers, we didn’r feel as though we are in a positiom to dictate how the money was he said.
“We have a lot of confidence in Makau’s visiob and we have had long discussions about where he wants to take the schoopand we’re on the same Recognizing the generosity of Cellino and Barnes, the schooo has announced plans to name their main conference center, located in O’Brian The Cellino and Barnes Conference Center. Askedd what it feels like to be in a positionj to giveaway $1 especially given the current economic climate, Barnese put the gift into perspective. “Botj Ross and I come from very humble beginnings and kind of worked our way up from the he said.
“We started out as just the twoof us, now, the practiced is a lucrative practice and I’jm just glad we were able to help at a time that I thinl is very critical to the law school.”