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 University principal Professor Sir Graeme Davies"The benefactor is clearly a very private person"  real 28k |
Glasgow hits Vegas jackpot
The donation came out of the blue
Glasgow University has benefitted by £1.2m from a publicity-shy American benefactor who was dismissed as a crank by the first university he approached.
William Lindsay, who has no connection with the university, is funding a new chair in health sector economics.
William Lindsay, who has no connection with the university, is funding a new chair in health sector economics.
He didn't want any publicity at all and it was as much as we could do to persuade him to let us name the chair after him  |
Glasgow University
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He approached another unnamed university with his donation, but was dismissed as a crank. Glasgow was more grateful and ultimately received the money.
Mr Lindsay, who lives in Las Vegas, contacted Glasgow University's development office nearly two years ago to say he wanted to donate some money.
He appeared to have no link to Scotland or the university but asked how much it would cost to fund a professorship.
Cheque received
Information was posted on and a year later, following various written correspondence between Mr Lindsay and the university, the Friends of Glasgow University Society in New York received a cheque.
The university still has no idea how Mr Lindsay made his money or why he chose to give it to them.
A spokesman said Mr Lindsay had contacted another university first but its reaction was less than polite so he went to Glasgow instead.
He added: "He's an extremely private person and so we don't have very much information about him.
"He just phoned up out of the blue in July 1998 and said he was minded to give some money to a university in Scotland.
'Professional way'
"He had no connections to any university and said that we were the second institution he had phoned but the first one thought he was just a crank.
"I think the difference was that we handled the phone call in a professional way. They just weren't as receptive to him."
Mr Lindsay went through various processes with the university, which had to check the donation, and handed over the money last July.
The chair will be named the William R Lindsay Chair in Health Policy and Economic Evaluation.
The spokesman added: "He felt very strongly that the chair should be set up in health policy so he could be involved in health in some way.
"He didn't want any publicity at all and it was as much as we could do to persuade him to let us name the chair after him. It's all a total mystery."
Mr Lindsay, who lives in Las Vegas, contacted Glasgow University's development office nearly two years ago to say he wanted to donate some money.
He appeared to have no link to Scotland or the university but asked how much it would cost to fund a professorship.
Cheque received
Information was posted on and a year later, following various written correspondence between Mr Lindsay and the university, the Friends of Glasgow University Society in New York received a cheque.
The university still has no idea how Mr Lindsay made his money or why he chose to give it to them.
A spokesman said Mr Lindsay had contacted another university first but its reaction was less than polite so he went to Glasgow instead.
He added: "He's an extremely private person and so we don't have very much information about him.
"He just phoned up out of the blue in July 1998 and said he was minded to give some money to a university in Scotland.
'Professional way'
"He had no connections to any university and said that we were the second institution he had phoned but the first one thought he was just a crank.
"I think the difference was that we handled the phone call in a professional way. They just weren't as receptive to him."
Mr Lindsay went through various processes with the university, which had to check the donation, and handed over the money last July.
The chair will be named the William R Lindsay Chair in Health Policy and Economic Evaluation.
The spokesman added: "He felt very strongly that the chair should be set up in health policy so he could be involved in health in some way.
"He didn't want any publicity at all and it was as much as we could do to persuade him to let us name the chair after him. It's all a total mystery."
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