$17-Million Trust to Aid UC Irvine and Arts Groups

Insurance heiress Edra E. Brophy has established a $17-million trust that eventually will provide UC Irvine’s College of Medicine, the Orange County Performing Arts Center and three Orange County performing arts groups with large endowments.

The trust, announced by Brophy’s son, William Gillespie, at a press conference Wednesday in Irvine, will provide $8.5 million for the UCI College of Medicine, the largest private gift in the university’s 24-year history.

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 Springs, 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 the trust was established with money from that transaction.