Dr. Robert Larner, University of Vermont Class of 1939 and UVM College of Medicine Class of 1942, and his wife, Helen Larner, say their philanthropic support for UVM is intended to ensure that the medical education provided by the University of Vermont College of Medicine is recognized as "second to none."

The couple's latest gift, $19.7 million in commercial property and cash -- is the largest one-time gift in the university’s history -- and establishes them as second to none in their philanthropic support for UVM. The Larners' lifetime giving to UVM now tops $33 million, a figure ranking them as the most generous donors in the 225-year history of the institution. The commercial property, valued at $18.7 million, will be held and managed by the UVM Foundation, with the income it generates directed to the College of Medicine to invest in its medical education programs. A $1 million cash gift was also included.

The historic gift was announced at a meeting of the UVM Foundation's National Campaign Council held today at the Hilton Hotel in Burlington, Vermont.

"We are overwhelmed by the generosity of the Larners and their commitment to ensuring that medical education at UVM is truly second to none," said UVM President Tom Sullivan in announcing the gift. "This is the quintessential story of a local boy who became successful and is sharing his good fortune with the university that gave him his start."

As a self-described "small town kid" from Burlington's Old North End, Robert Larner grew up the youngest of seven children of a local roofer. He was the only one in his family to go to college. "After all those years roofing, my father was making something like 32 dollars a week and bringing up seven of us on that," he remembers. He was able to attend college thanks to scholarship support he earned in part from winning the state championship as a high school debater.

Larner built a successful medical practice in Los Angeles, California, following World War II and decided he wanted to start giving back. "I wanted to help other medical students have the kind of stimulating, gratifying practice of medicine that I’d had," he said.

The Larners have a long history of transformational support for the College of Medicine. Since 1985, the Larners have assisted hundreds of UVM medical students through the Larner Loan Fund, now valued at more than $8 million, which has the dual intent of easing the financial burden of medical education for students while simultaneously fostering a “culture of philanthropy” among alumni by encouraging Larner Loan recipients to give back to the College of Medicine when they became successful in their own professional lives. In 2012, the Larners provided funding to purchase five Harvey cardiopulmonary simulators for the Clinical Simulation Laboratory, a collaborative program between the College of Medicine, the UVM College of Nursing and Health Sciences, and the UVM Medical Center. In 2013, The Robert Larner, MD’42 Medical Education Center was dedicated to acknowledge their decades of support.

More recently, the couple contributed $1 million to build an innovative Team-Based Learning Classroom in the Larner Medical Education Center on the university campus. In October 2015, a $1 million gift established the Robert Larner, MD’42 Endowed Professorship in Medical Education, held by Kathryn Huggett, and an accompanying $8.7 million gift of property was announced during the public launch of UVM’s $500 million comprehensive campaign in October.

The Larners’ generosity has substantially advanced UVM’s medical mission to benefit Vermont, the nation and the world – facts recognized with the awarding of the 2013 UVM Lifetime Achievement in Philanthropy to Dr. Larner and an Honorary Doctor of Science degree that was awarded to him at the 2014 Commencement Ceremonies.

“The support of Bob and Helen Larner has changed the face and the future of our College of Medicine,” said Dean Frederick Morin. “This latest gift will allow us to create the Larner Learning Commons, with the space and resources to develop the best teaching technologies and techniques, making us in fact and in reputation second to none in medical education.”

This and other recent gifts from the Larners are included in Move Mountains: The Campaign for The University of Vermont, which seeks to raise $500 million by June 2019 to support students, faculty, programs and facilities and assert UVM's position as one of the nation's best public research universities. As of March 31, the Move Mountains Campaign has raised $295.3 million of its goal, of which $93.4 million has been designated to support the College of Medicine.