Irvine : UCI Research Center Named for Benefactors

A UC Irvine research facility will be renamed “The Robert and Meryl Bonney Center for Neurobiology of Learning and Memory” in a formal ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at the campus.

The facility, which was founded in 1982, specializes in research on how the brain acquires, processes and stores information.

The renaming is in honor of a $1-million trust fund that the Bonneys established earlier this year to support the center, which is directed by Dr. James McGaugh, professor of psychobiology.

“Dr. McGaugh and the other scientists at the center are among the most respected psychobiologists in the country,” Robert Bonney said. “We believe their research could lead to the answer about what causes memory loss, and we want to help them find it.”

The Bonneys live in Laguna Hills. He is co-founder and vice chairman of the board of EECO Inc., a Santa Ana company that manufactures electronic products.