The University of Florida is getting a $1 million donation to establish an endowed Chair at the institution’s law school.
Prominent Sarasota lawyer Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. announced the donation this week to establish the Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. Chair in Constitutional Law at the UF Levin College of Law.
The new Chair position is designed to help the school recruit a nationally recognized scholar and enhance its work in debates and academic consideration in public policy and legal issues.
“I am excited for the future of the University of Florida under the leadership of its new President, Stuart Bell, whom I’ve known for many years,” Culverhouse said. “I have seen firsthand the impact of his leadership and am proud to support the vision he brings to the University of Florida.”
The Culverhouse name is well known along the Gulf Coast of Florida, as the late Hugh Culverhouse Sr. was the original owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when the NFL franchise entered the league as an expansion team in 1976. The franchise was sold to Malcom Glazer in 1995, about a year after the elder Culverhouse passed away.
The younger Culverhouse has had a long-standing association with Bell, who was officially appointed President of UF this month. Culverhouse donated about $20 million to the University of Alabama when Bell was President at that school. The new endowment to UF is the first major contribution to the school since Bell took over.
“One of the greatest privileges of serving as president is partnering with alumni and friends who believe deeply in the future of this university,” Bell said. “Hugh’s generosity reflects the confidence our supporters have in what UF can accomplish together. I’m honored to begin my presidency with a gift that will strengthen UF’s role in shaping the future of legal education.”
The latest contribution to UF is not the first for Culverhouse. He donated $1.1 million in 2020 to establish scholarships for UF law students in the name of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who was a prolific civil rights leader.
Culverhouse is also an established business leader who is CEO of Palmer Ranch Holdings Ltd. based in Sarasota. He has also donated millions of dollars to charitable causes in that area, including Season of Sharing, Church of the Redeemer, All Faiths Food Bank and Legal Aid of Manasota.
