La Jolla Philanthropist Gives UCSD Library $1 Million

Florence Seeley Riford, the La Jolla philanthropist who has given millions of dollars to local institutions and causes, has donated $1 million to the UC San Diego library to bolster its humanities collection, school officials announced Monday.

The gift from Riford, 97, is the largest ever given to the school library and brings to $4 million the amount she has donated to UC San Diego over the years, said John Steinitz, the school’s director of planned giving.

Steinitz said Riford’s latest gift will be applied to a matching grant offered by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Last month, Riford signed the paper work that handed over $1 million in municipal bonds, treasury bonds and stock to UC San Diego, he said.

But the gift doesn’t go to the school immediately. Instead, it will be set aside in a special “life income” account that will pay Riford 10% a year--or $100,000--until she dies; at that point, the principal and interest will revert to the library to buy materials for its humanities collection, he said.

In addition to the $1-million gift, Riford has donated $600,000 over the past two years to help the school qualify for the library’s matching grant, which requires the school to raise $2.625 million from private sources before it can collect $875,000 from the endowment. Steinitz said Riford’s $1 million puts UCSD within reach of its private fund-raising goal.

Asked why she gave the money to the UC San Diego library, Riford said: “Where could you put it to better advantage?”

In recent years, Riford has bestowed expensive donations and gifts on UCSD and the City of San Diego.

In 1983, she gave property on Draper Avenue valued at $2 million to the city if it promised to build a new branch library in La Jolla to replace the 78-year-old facility at Girard Avenue and Wall Street. The 10,000-square-foot Florence Riford Library Center is scheduled to be completed this year.

The La Jolla widow has also donated money to the San Diego Community Foundation. But UCSD has been a favorite cause for Riford, Steinitz said.

Chairs Established

Over the years, Riford has established a $1-million chair for research into Alzheimer’s disease, as well as a $500,000 chair for research into AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome. She also gave $100,000 to finance a mobile van to conduct research with osteoporosis patients. All were outright grants.

Riford has established other life-income accounts to eventually benefit the school’s Institute for Research on Aging, ophthalmology research, Alzheimer’s disease research, plastic surgery and pathology, Steinitz said. The proceeds will be turned over to UCSD when she dies.

“She has made the remark many times that she wants to die penniless,” Steinitz said, explaining Riford’s largess. “She takes this quite seriously.

“She has a very high regard for the university, and especially Chancellor (Richard C.) Atkinson, and has donated well over $4 million to the university.”