On a recent sunny morning, electrical engineering professor Ali Hajimiri stood on a balcony in Cape Canaveral in Florida, holding his breath as he watched a scene with profound implications for energy use…
A milestone anniversary for Irvine Unified School District was commemorated with a big gift from the Irvine Company and Donald Bren Foundation Tuesday night: A $4 million check to the district, boosting the…
Real estate developer started donation commitment in 2013 Orange County’s billionaire real estate developer Donald Bren has donated at least $100 million to a Caltech project that aims to generate solar power in…
In 1997 low-key Californian developer Donald Bren pledged $15m to what became the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, topping that up with a further $5m in 2004. The Bren School…
Stand on a hill and take in the view, and the chances are good you’ll see the imprint of the Irvine Co. on the Orange County landscape around you. For more than 30 years, the man responsible for shaping much of that landscape has been Irvine Co. chairman Donald Bren.
Using property and wealth from his real estate business, Bren has given more than $1 billion, much of it to support education. Bren’s commitment to schooling runs the gamut from students to principals to school districts to university scholars on his Irvine Ranch.
Bren’s philanthropy has left a mark that rivals the work he’s done building out about one-fifth of Orange County. From the Bren supported Law School at UC Irvine to a 20,000-acre parcel of the original Irvine Ranch that, in June, was transferred to the county as permanent open space, Bren’s charitable projects have been aimed at making a long-term impact.
Everything was coming up green in the spring of 1970. In April, Americans would celebrate the first Earth Day, marking the dawn of the global environmental movement…
Irvine Company Completes Open Space Master Plan with Gift of Additional 2,500 Acres, Brings Preserved Irvine Ranch Lands to 55,000 Acres Gift Culminates 50 Years of Open Space Master Planning Nearly 60% of…
“Yours,” in this case, means all of Orange County. The four major canyons that make up the gift include Black Star, expected to become the 2,000-acre “Black Star Canyon Wilderness Park” within three to four years. It is the largest gift of land in county history.
Over the years, Bren’s vision as a developer has transformed the Orange County landscape… setting aside 50,000 acres for parks, greenways, and a recreational and wilderness preserve. More than half of that was previously donated to the public; the land given to the county Tuesday completes the transfer.
Tony Barboza Los Angeles Times April 23, 2008 Nearly 40,000 acres of Orange County parkland stretching from the coast to the foothills — once part of the historic Irvine Ranch — has been…
Most of the remaining Irvine Ranch became California’s first Natural Landmark on Tuesday, a new designation announced by the governor during an Earth Day celebration amid the ranch’s rolling, brush-covered hills. “This is…
Irvine Ranch acreage gets landmark status The governor is among those at a ceremony to announce the national designation, shared by Diamond Head and the La Brea Tar Pits. David Reyes Los Angeles…
Standing in a small clearing amid giant sycamores in Irvine Regional Park on Thursday, Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren pledged $20 million to expand the public’s access to 50,000 acres of the former Irvine Ranch set aside as open space. The gift brings to $50 million the amount donated…
Rugged canyons, centuries-old oak trees, and sweeping expanses of Chaparral and sage make up the 11,000 acres that Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren is preserving forever. It includes some of the most sensitive and biologically rich land in Southern California.
IRVINE — An unprecedented experiment in wildlife conservation began Wednesday in an Orange County meadow, as a major land developer and high-level government officials signed a plan that some predict will be a national…
A message from Irvine Unified School District Superintendent Terry Walker: Achieving excellence requires focus, dedication and passion. At Irvine Unified School District, we see that every day – from our visionary Board of…
Philanthropist and Orange County businessman Donald Bren has given $5 million to UCSB — bringing his total contributions to the university to $20 million. CSB Chancellor Henry Yang said… Mr. Bren’s “vision for developing a peerless, world-leading institution . . . has been a tremendous source of inspiration and leadership for the Bren School.”
The 10-year grant allows for continuation of esteemed program that provides art, music and science specialists for every 4th through 6th grade class in IUSD.
Developer and philanthropist Donald Bren on Tuesday reached beyond the Orange County communities he helped build and define, announcing an $8.5-million donation to benefit after-school programs in Santa Ana and east Los Angeles County.
The Irvine Co. handed out a gift of $1 million Monday for after-school tutoring, sports and homework help for some of Orange County’s neediest students.
The Irvine Co. said Monday it would provide $20 million over the next 10 years to fund fine arts, music and science programs for fourth- through sixth-graders in the Irvine Unified School District. The money will be in addition to the $25 million pledged by the Newport Beach developer to Irvine schools in 2000, officials said.
Buildings filling to the Bren at UC Irvine Chairman of the Irvine Co. who has given the school about $43 million sees yet another site take his name By Marisa O’Neil, Daily Pilot…
UC Irvine announced today that it is renaming its new computer science school the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences. Mr. Bren’s gift equaled the largest gift ever to UCI and marked another example of the chairman’s support of public education on The Irvine Ranch.
In 1997 low-key Californian developer Donald Bren pledged $15m to what became the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, topping that up with a further $5m in 2004. The Bren School…
Bren donated $20 million to the university, endowing more permanent chairs than anyone in the campus’ history. In recognition of this contributions, UCI awarded Bren the University of California Presidential Medal, the university’s highest honor.
Chairman Donald Bren has been elected a Fellow of the prestigious American Academy of Arts & Sciences — a major recognition of his long history of philanthropic contributions to education and open space preservation and access.
Donald Bren recognized as one of Orange County’s most prominent and influential forces over the past 100 years, guiding its development and the protection of its open spaces.
