I didn't know where to put this so figured here was the best spot I picked this link to use, because there was a very nice picture of him and his wife
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/aug/02/inventor-donated-millions/
Inventor donated millions
Philanthropist was heart valve creator
Donald P. Shiley, the heart-valve inventor and philanthropist whose donations benefitted the region’s arts community, scientific research facilities and universities for decades, died Saturday. He was 90.
Shiley gave millions to many local organizations, including $20 million to the Old Globe Theatre in 2006, the largest gift in the theater’s history. The main stage of the theater is named after Shiley and his wife of 32 years, Darlene, as is a 22-unit apartment complex that houses visiting theater artists.
“Their generosity was unmatched at the Globe and elsewhere. Donald and Darlene are at the very foundation of our theaters and, I think, of our community,” Old Globe Executive Producer Lou Spisto said. “They expanded what was possible by their powerful love of each other and the community.
“He knew the sciences and brought her to that work. She knows theater and the arts ... and she brought him to her passion.”
The Shileys have given nearly $15 million to University of California San Diego for a variety of projects. The Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center bears their name and honors Darlene Shiley’s mother, Dee Marcos. They also helped finance the construction of the Shiley Eye Center at the UCSD School of Medicine. Shiley suffered from macular degeneration in recent years.
“Donald Shiley was a leader at UCSD Health Sciences,” said David Brenner, vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine. “Donald and Darlene Shiley’s commitment to research and patient care in eye disease and Alzheimer’s have been critical to UC San Diego building our world class programs in these fields,”
The couple gave $10 million to the University of San Diego for the Donald P. Shiley Center for Science and Technology, $1 million to KPBS for the Copley Center at San Diego State University and a large sum to Scripps Clinic to fund two fellowships in translational neurology.
In 2007, the couple donated $12 million to support the University of Portland’s engineering program, where Shiley received his degree in 1951. It was the largest gift ever to the university.
Shiley became famous for the invention of the Bjork-Shiley heart valve that changed the face of heart surgery in the 1970s and is credited with saving about 500,000 lives around the world. A problem with one version of the mechanical valve, which could fracture and possibly kill the recipient, led to lawsuits and prompted the manufacturer to stop selling it in 1986.
Shiley told Portland magazine that his idea for developing a heart valve came to him one day as he was relaxing but mulling things over.
“It just… came to me,” he told the magazine. “I jumped up and ran to my workbench and sketched it; and then I hurried to the lab and built a model, and it turned out that it worked. That was a good day.”
Born in 1920, Shiley grew up on a farm in Yakima , Wash. After a stint in the Navy and graduating from college, he went to work for a medical engineering firm and eventually started his own company, Shiley Laboratories, in 1964. He sold it to Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in 1979.
As a 57-year-old widower, Shiley met and married Darlene, who was his junior by 27 years. The couple had homes in downtown San Diego and Pauma Valley.
Spisto, of the Old Globe, said he told about 500 people attending the theater’s annual gala Saturday night about Shiley’s death. That night, the Shileys pledged $175,000 toward the gala’s $1 million fundraising goal and Darlene Shiley was the honorary gala chair, although she could not attend.
“We are far better having had Donald Shiley in this community for all these years,” Spisto said Sunday.
Besides his wife, Donald Shiley is survived by four children and five grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Shiley Eye Center. A private Mass is pending.
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in some editions of the Sunday Union-Tribune
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/aug/02/inventor-donated-millions/
Inventor donated millions
Philanthropist was heart valve creator
Donald P. Shiley, the heart-valve inventor and philanthropist whose donations benefitted the region’s arts community, scientific research facilities and universities for decades, died Saturday. He was 90.
Shiley gave millions to many local organizations, including $20 million to the Old Globe Theatre in 2006, the largest gift in the theater’s history. The main stage of the theater is named after Shiley and his wife of 32 years, Darlene, as is a 22-unit apartment complex that houses visiting theater artists.
“Their generosity was unmatched at the Globe and elsewhere. Donald and Darlene are at the very foundation of our theaters and, I think, of our community,” Old Globe Executive Producer Lou Spisto said. “They expanded what was possible by their powerful love of each other and the community.
“He knew the sciences and brought her to that work. She knows theater and the arts ... and she brought him to her passion.”
The Shileys have given nearly $15 million to University of California San Diego for a variety of projects. The Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center bears their name and honors Darlene Shiley’s mother, Dee Marcos. They also helped finance the construction of the Shiley Eye Center at the UCSD School of Medicine. Shiley suffered from macular degeneration in recent years.
“Donald Shiley was a leader at UCSD Health Sciences,” said David Brenner, vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine. “Donald and Darlene Shiley’s commitment to research and patient care in eye disease and Alzheimer’s have been critical to UC San Diego building our world class programs in these fields,”
The couple gave $10 million to the University of San Diego for the Donald P. Shiley Center for Science and Technology, $1 million to KPBS for the Copley Center at San Diego State University and a large sum to Scripps Clinic to fund two fellowships in translational neurology.
In 2007, the couple donated $12 million to support the University of Portland’s engineering program, where Shiley received his degree in 1951. It was the largest gift ever to the university.
Shiley became famous for the invention of the Bjork-Shiley heart valve that changed the face of heart surgery in the 1970s and is credited with saving about 500,000 lives around the world. A problem with one version of the mechanical valve, which could fracture and possibly kill the recipient, led to lawsuits and prompted the manufacturer to stop selling it in 1986.
Shiley told Portland magazine that his idea for developing a heart valve came to him one day as he was relaxing but mulling things over.
“It just… came to me,” he told the magazine. “I jumped up and ran to my workbench and sketched it; and then I hurried to the lab and built a model, and it turned out that it worked. That was a good day.”
Born in 1920, Shiley grew up on a farm in Yakima , Wash. After a stint in the Navy and graduating from college, he went to work for a medical engineering firm and eventually started his own company, Shiley Laboratories, in 1964. He sold it to Pfizer Pharmaceuticals in 1979.
As a 57-year-old widower, Shiley met and married Darlene, who was his junior by 27 years. The couple had homes in downtown San Diego and Pauma Valley.
Spisto, of the Old Globe, said he told about 500 people attending the theater’s annual gala Saturday night about Shiley’s death. That night, the Shileys pledged $175,000 toward the gala’s $1 million fundraising goal and Darlene Shiley was the honorary gala chair, although she could not attend.
“We are far better having had Donald Shiley in this community for all these years,” Spisto said Sunday.
Besides his wife, Donald Shiley is survived by four children and five grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Shiley Eye Center. A private Mass is pending.
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in some editions of the Sunday Union-Tribune
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