Alum donates $20M to Hofstra's law school

Hofstra University's law school will get a new name and a $20-million gift from an alumnus who is a longtime benefactor and advocate of the school and a former pharmaceutical executive, the university said.

The law school will be named the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University in honor of Deane, who enrolled at the school at age 50 and who recently made the multimillion dollar donation -- the largest gift in the university's history. He is a former university trustee and former chairman of the board of trustees.

"I think that when you are looking at somebody giving the amount of money Maurice has given us, other prospective donors sit up and take notice," said Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz. "I am hopeful that people will look at this and say, 'Hey, this is a place that's worth that much investment and maybe even more.' "

University officials said the donation -- more than half of which the school already has in hand -- will be added to the law school's endowment. The earnings from the gift will provide an additional $800,000 to $1 million a year, which will fund student scholarships and academic and professional programs, officials said. The entire gift will be distributed to the school by Jan. 31, 2013.

The announcement of Deane's donation comes as the university is working on a number of other major fundraising efforts for the new medical school, the new School of Engineering and Applied Science, as well as the business and communication schools, Rabinowitz said.

Nora V. Demleitner, dean of the law school, said she hopes to use the funds to decrease the student body size so that students would receive more individual attention, and provide more opportunities to bolster students' professional credentials with such endeavors as working with faculty members to organize conferences and produce white papers on issues.

"With that gift we can respond to the big issues of legal education -- the tuition amount we are all charging -- through enhanced scholarship assistance and dealing with a challenging labor market by helping students stand out," Demleitner said.

Deane, who lives in Manhattan, enrolled in Hofstra School of Law after he had already made his mark as a successful business executive, the university said. He had spent 26 years helping to build Endo Laboratories into one of the largest privately held pharmaceutical companies in the country and facilitated its sale to DuPont, according to the university.

Deane went on to graduate first in his law school class in 1981. "He was a brilliant student," Rabinowitz said. Since then Deane has served as a member of the university's board of trustees from 1982 to 2007, serving as chairman from 1989 to 1991.