Gift to FAU from Philanthropists Carole and Barry Kaye
Names Great Hall in Forkas Alumni Center

BOCA RATON, FL (March 2, 2006) - As construction is set to begin on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus for the Marleen and Harold Forkas Alumni Center, a pledge of $400,000 has been made by philanthropists Carole and Barry Kaye.  Their gift will name the “Carole and Barry Kaye ’05 Great Hall” and will provide alumni with a specially designed space for entertaining large groups of people.

     The Marleen and Harold Forkas Alumni Center will be a 9,000-square-foot tropical style building on the Boca Raton campus.  Airy and spacious, with a two-story atrium, the center will house a library, office space, seminar rooms, classrooms and a catering kitchen, all surrounding the Carole and Barry Kaye '05 Great Hall.  A lighthouse tower will also be an important part of the building's structure and a symbol of the FAU National Alumni Association's mission to guide alumni “home."

     “Both Carole and I feel privileged to be a part of the Alumni Center,” said Kaye.  “This beautiful new building will help link Florida Atlantic University’s past with its future.  We are proud to have named the Carole and Barry Kaye Great Hall in the Marleen and Harold Forkas Alumni Center and look forward to seeing the center take shape on the university’s ever changing horizon.”

     Kaye, who received an honorary doctorate from FAU last December, has supported a variety of initiatives at the university.  His gift of $5 million to FAU's College of Business has established the Barry Kaye School of Finance, Insurance and Economics and the Barry Kaye Endowed Fund.  In 2005, the Kayes donated $500,000 to FAU's arts programs to establish the Carole and Barry Kaye Endowed Fund in Integrative Arts Education and Outreach within the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters.   In recognition of Kaye’s love of the arts and his overall generosity to the university, the FAU University Center Auditorium has been renamed the “Carole and Barry Kaye Performing Arts Auditorium.”  An additional gift from the Kayes allowed the University to completely renovate the auditorium lobby.

        “This wonderful gift reflects the extreme generosity of the Kaye family,” said Dr. Lawrence Davenport, executive vice president of University Advancement and executive director of the FAU Foundation.  “In a short time, Carole and Barry Kaye have made a tremendous impact upon our College of Business and the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. By supporting alumni relations, the Kayes are reaching out to this university’s constituency of graduates and helping FAU reach new heights.”

          A 40-year-plus veteran in the field of insurance, Kaye has led 14 insurance companies during his lifetime and is the best-selling author of a variety of books on the subject of estate planning and life insurance.

     There are many opportunities still available for naming within the Marleen and Harold Forkas Alumni Center.  To learn more about ways to support the Florida Atlantic University National Alumni Association and its mission, contact Pat Breman, assistant vice president of Alumni Relations, at 561-297-2190 or pbreman@fau.edu.

- FAU -

FloridaAtlantic University opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the university serves 26,000 undergraduate and graduate students on seven campuses strategically located along 150 miles of Florida's southeastern coastline. Building on its rich tradition as a teaching university, with a world-class faculty, FAU hosts eight colleges - the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, and the Colleges of Business, Education, Engineering & Computer Science, and Architecture, Urban & Public Affairs.