Listen to this story.
UC Davis veterinary school
VIN News Service photo
The 78-year-old University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine is being renamed the Joan and Sanford I. Weill School of Veterinary Medicine — or, more simply, the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine.
The University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine generated buzz last week with an announcement that it's received a $120 million donation and, in recognition of the donors, is renaming itself the Joan and Sanford I. Weill School of Veterinary Medicine.
The gift is the largest received by a veterinary school, not only in the United States but worldwide. UC Davis' program is not the first to incorporate a benefactor's name, however. Six other veterinary schools in the U.S. have adopted a person's name into their own. Four namings happened in the past 3½ years. It appears to be a bit of a trend.
Who are the people whose names are borne by veterinary schools, and what did they do to gain the recognition? Here's a rundown.
UC Davis: Joan and Sanford Weill
Sanford "Sandy" Weill is a financier whose long resume includes stints as president of American Express and chair and CEO of Citigroup, both global banking and financial services businesses.
Joan Weill is an advocate of the arts — she chaired the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for 14 years — and led women's health symposia in New York and California.
The Weill name is well established in philanthropy, including in the medical realm. Institutions and endeavors already bearing their name include Weill Cornell Medicine (Cornell University's medical school), Weill Neurohub (a partnership with UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, the University of Washington and the Allen Institute) and Weill Cancer Hub West (a research collaboration between Stanford University and UC San Francisco).
The Weills are among 259 affluent individuals and couples who have signed The Giving Pledge, a promise to give the majority of their wealth to charity during their lifetimes or in their wills.
The UC Davis veterinary school landed on the Weills' radar through a personal experience. According to the school's announcement of the donation, the couple's dog Angel received care there after being diagnosed with lymphoma in 2018.
"Angel's care at UC Davis left a lasting impression on our family," Joan Weill was quoted as saying. "As Sandy and I became more involved with the school over the years, we have been continually inspired by its leadership, dedication to team science, pursuit of solving complex health challenges and its unwavering commitment to animals and the families who love them."
According to the announcement, $80 million of the $120 million gift will help build a new small animal teaching hospital, part of a $750 million veterinary medical complex expansion. The remaining $40 million will go toward research.
Until now, the largest donation to a veterinary school is believed to have been a gift of AU$100 million (US$65 million) to Murdoch University in Australia by the businessman Ted Powell last year. (Powell's name was not added to the school's.)
Long Island University: Alexander and Elisabeth Lewyt
In February 2025, the veterinary school at Long Island University, a private institution in New York state, was renamed the Lewyt College of Veterinary Medicine in recognition of a $20.5 million agreement with the Lewyt Trust.
The school, which opened in 2020, said in an announcement that the money would fund scholarships annually to selected LIU veterinary students and provide staffing and support at animal shelters to be known as Lewyt Training Centers. The initiative would include free community outreach programs through which students provide basic veterinary care and distribute pet food and supplies.
The announcement described Alexander Lewyt as "a visionary, inventor, and entrepreneur who held many patents but was best known for the Lewyt vacuum cleaner, a compact machine with no dust bag designed to operate without distorting television and radio reception." Elisabeth Lewyt was an advocate of no-kill shelters. The couple was deeply involved with the North Shore Animal League, a rescue organization. Alexander Lewyt died in 1988 and Elisabeth Lewyt in 2012.
Clemson University: Harvey S. Peeler Jr.
Weills Peeler
UC Davis photo by Gregory Urquiaga (L); photo courtesy of the office of Sen. Harvey S. Peeler Jr. (R)
From left, Joan and Sanford Weill with their dog, Sweet Pea; and Harvey Peeler Jr.
Clemson University, a public institution in South Carolina, is preparing to enroll its very first class of veterinary students in August. The nascent Harvey S. Peeler Jr. College of Veterinary Medicine is named after a state lawmaker whose perseverance and influence are credited with making the school a reality.
Peeler is a 1970 graduate of Clemson and has served as a state senator since 1980. The university board of trustees named the school for Peeler in November 2024.
His passion for bringing a veterinary school to Clemson dates back decades, according to Dr. Boyd Parr, a former state veterinarian and now special assistant to the veterinary school dean. Peeler and Parr go way back. Peeler's father was in the dairy processing business, and Parr's father, a dairyman, sold milk to the senior Peeler.
Parr recalled an effort in the mid-aughts to establish a veterinary school in the state. Since that time, he said, Peeler, himself a cattle farmer, "consistently inquired every year whether Clemson should build a veterinary school."
Now the senior-most member of the Senate and chair of its finance committee, Peeler gained "significant influence," some of which he used to manifest his vision for a veterinary school, Parr said. "He singlehandedly led the effort in the legislature."
Without Peeler's vigorous support, Parr said, "The $285 million construction budget that the state provided and $12.5 million of recurring money would not have happened."
Lewyt photo cropped
Photo courtesy of Long Island University
In this photograph from the 1970s, Elisabeth and Alexander Lewyt are at home with their dogs.
Rowan University: Gerald B. Shreiber
Another new program is Rowan University's Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine, which opened last fall.
A public institution in New Jersey, Rowan named its school after Gerald B. Shreiber, a South Jersey entrepreneur who made his fortune in the snack food and beverage industry. Shreiber gave $30 million to the veterinary program.
An advocate of animal rights and welfare, Shreiber had previously given Rowan $3 million to establish a Shreiber Family Pet Therapy Program. The campus program provides group and individual animal therapy visits and "exam de-stress events," among other services.
According to an announcement by Rowan in April 2023, Shreiber's gift to the new veterinary school was the third-largest donation ever received by the university. "A fitting tribute to a businessman who has generously supported education, animal welfare and animal rights for decades, the Shreiber School is only the third named veterinary school in the nation," it said. (It was actually the fourth.)
Lincoln Memorial University: Richard A. Gillespie, MD
Photo courtesy of Lincoln Memorial University
Richard A. Gillespie, MD
The third named school is at Lincoln Memorial University, a private institution in Tennessee. Opened in 2014, the veterinary program in 2022 took the name of Richard A. Gillespie, MD, a long-time member of the university's board of trustees.
Gillespie is an LMU alumnus with a medical degree from the University of Tennessee, according to a press release about the school's rededication. A board-certified anesthesiologist, he founded a stand-alone surgery center in 1981 in Tennessee, said to be one of the first such centers in the country.
LMU Board Chairman O.V. Autry "Pete" DeBusk compared Gillespie's effort to establish surgery centers, which were controversial early on, to the LMU veterinary school's fight for respect for what was then a novel approach to clinical education. Rather than establishing a teaching hospital on campus, the school uses what is known as a distributed (or distributive) method, sending students to practices around the country for clinical training.
"A lot of people had doubts about our ability to build this program," DeBusk is quoted as saying. "They saw us as outsiders and weren't sure about our plans for a distributive model of education. When Dr. Gillespie was opening his surgery centers, he had to fight every step of the way and convince Washington and the medical establishment that his new vision was good for medicine and, especially, patients."
Regarding the veterinary school specifically, DeBusk said Gillespie "spent many hours on the team working on the development and really helped to get the school off the ground."
Oregon State University: Gary R. Carlson, MD
Dr. Carlson
Photo by Joel Bogeberg
Gary R. Carlson, MD
Another MD whose name is on a veterinary school is Gary R. Carlson. In 2018, Carlson, a Southern California dermatologist, gave Oregon State University's veterinary school $50 million, its largest-ever donation. According to an account on the veterinary school website, Carlson is a 1974 Oregon State alumnus who studied medicine at Oregon Health and Science University and completed a dermatology residency at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"After establishing his medical practice, he began investing in stocks and Southern California real estate," the account reads. "His goal was to grow his assets so he could make one large donation to a good cause. Ultimately, he decided that he would have the biggest impact at OSU's veterinary college."
Carlson is quoted as explaining: "As I began thinking about how I might make a difference in this world, I thought about those things that matter most to me. High on the list was the joy that our pets so often give us — a special comfort and support that allows us to embrace life more fully. I wanted to do something that would enrich that experience and help us better understand and care for our 'best friends.' "
Carlson initially was unsure about the college adopting his name, according to the account, but he "ultimately decided the recognition would also honor his parents, both animal lovers."
Shreiber Cummings
Photo courtesy of Rowan University (L); Tufts University photo by Anna Miller (R)
From left, Gerald and Melanie Shreiber; and Joyce and Bill Cummings
Tufts University: Bill and Joyce Cummings
Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, opened in 1979, became the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in 2004 upon receiving a pledge of $50 million over 15 years from the Cummings Foundation. At the time, the donation was the single largest in the university's history and was believed to be the largest in veterinary medical education, according to an article by the then dean, Dr. Philip Kosch.
It also made Tufts the first veterinary school in the country to honor donors by taking their name.
Bill Cummings made a living in commercial real estate, founding a business called Cummings Properties. In 1986, he and his wife, Joyce, created the Cummings Foundation, according to the foundation website.
"Over the years, Joyce and Bill gradually donated the large majority of Cummings Properties commercial property to the Foundation. Today, nearly all of the buildings managed by Cummings Properties are actually owned by and operated for the sole benefit of Cummings Foundation," a write-up on the website recounts.
It quotes the couple as saying: "After about 15 very successful years in Greater Boston commercial real estate, we came to recognize and believe that no one can truly 'own' anything. With our ever-so-brief stays upon this earth, how can we possibly think of ourselves as owning land? How can we ever be anything more than caretakers of the ground beneath anything we might develop on any site? With that thought in mind, it was easy thereafter to start giving much more."
The Cummingses also have taken The Giving Pledge.
Corrections: This story originally stated in error that Rowan University's veterinary school was poised to open its doors this year. The Schreiber School of Veterinary Medicine opened in fall 2025. This article was further changed on Feb. 11 to add Lincoln Memorial University's veterinary school to the roundup of U.S. programs that bear the names of major supporters.