Brophy Gift Recipients Cite Long-Term Effects

Beneficiaries of a $17-million trust established by insurance heiress Edra E. Brophy said Wednesday that the gift will provide long-term financial stability for the performing arts in Orange County and place the UC Irvine College of Medicine in the forefront of medical research.

The trust was formally announced by Brophy’s son, William Gillespie, a Newport Beach business investor, during a news conference at UCI Wednesday. It will provide $8.5 million to UCI’s medical school--the largest private gift in the university’s 24-year history, officials said.

The Orange County Performing Arts Center will receive $5.1 million, South Coast Repertory Theatre $1.7 million, the Orange County Philharmonic Society $1.19 million and the Pacific Chorale $510,000.

The terms of the trust call for the Brophy family to receive interest income on the principal for 20 years, after which the $17 million will be disbursed to UCI and the other beneficiaries.

Brophy, 77, of Palm Desert, is the daughter of William Cheney, co-founder of Farmers Insurance Group, which was acquired recently by a London-based company in a $5.2-billion buyout. Gillespie said the trust was established with money from that sale.

“The school of medicine is in a tremendous growth phase, and our ability to complete our objectives will be significantly enhanced by this gift,” said Dr. Ted Quilligan, vice chancellor of health science and dean of the UCI College of Medicine.

“Having gifts of this magnitude will help young investigators and give us a head start on medical schools all over the country. Other parts of these funds will be used for education purposes in the medical school. We have high education goals for our medical students, and we need scholarships to attract the brightest students from all walks of life, particularly under-represented minorities.”

Representatives of the arts groups said the money will be used to establish or add to their endowments.

“It’s so fitting because when we started the fund raising for the performing arts, we really felt like pioneers. For this gift to come from a pioneer family . . . is most significant,” said Katherine Thompson, vice chairman of the board of the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

“The funds are so essential for our endowment. It gives us an incentive for other people to give to the endowment, which is the backbone of sustaining the performing arts and the price of our tickets over the long range.”

Thompson said the Center’s endowment is $70 million. She said the Center’s goal is to increase the endowment enough so that its interest covers the Center’s operating expenses.

Gillespie said his mother designated the trust for medicine and the arts in Orange County because of their shared interest in both the medical advances being developed at UCI and the county’s growth in the performing arts.