Cellino, Barnes donate $1M to UB - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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Lisa Mueller, assistant dean for alumni and said the gift matchesa thelargest single-donation in the historuy of the law school, the $1 million give in 2002 by Francis Letro, who graduatedr UB Law School in 1979 and went on to foune a successful personal injury firm. In a releaswe announcing the gift, University at Buffalo Law School Dean Makahu Mutua calledit “aj extraordinary act of philanthropy” and “a wonderful down paymenft on our vision of academic excellence and our bold aspirationd for the future.” Mutua said he plans to invest the gift in the calling them the central core of the law school.
he said the money will go towardc scholarships, making improvements in pedagogical technologies in the schookl andupgrading services. Stev e Barnes, who founded the law firm alongb withRoss Cellino, said they felt they owed a debt of gratituder to the school wherd they got their “Both Ross and I are graduates of the law school and we’ve come to know many of the professorw and administrators very well,” he said. “Makauj Mutua is just an outstanding individuapl and he has a vision thatwe haven’t seen at the school yet.
” Barne said the decision to make the gift an unrestricted donation reflects the confidence they have in the administratores at the University to utilize the monet in the most effective ways “We are lawyers, we didn’t feel as though we are in a positiohn to dictate how the money was he said. “We have a lot of confidence in Makau’x vision and we have had long discussions aboutf where he wants to take the schoopland we’re on the same Recognizing the generosity of Cellino and Barnes, the school has announcecd plans to name their main conferencre center, located in O’Brian The Cellino and Barneas Conference Center.
Asked what it feels like to be in a position to giveaway $1 especially given the current economic climate, Barnes put the gift into “Both Ross and I come from very humble beginnings and kind of worked our way up from the he said. “We starte d out as just the twoof us, now, the practics is a lucrative practice and I’jm just glad we were able to help at a time that I thinkl is very critical to the law school.
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