Fariborz Maseeh, an Iranian immigrant who sold his technology company to Corning Inc. in 2000 for $750 million, has pledged $2 million to the University of California, Irvine.
The money is set to fund a research center focused on Persian history, cultural and art. The center is set to be called the Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture, named for a missionary in the early 1900s who became a leading educational figure in Iran.
With the money, UCI expects to hire three professors, two in the School of Humanities and one in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts. One will be the Maseeh chair in Persian studies and culture.
Maseeh left Iran in 1977, at the start of political turmoil there. He came to the U.S. to study engineering at Portland State University.
Last year, he gave $8 million to his alma mater, which renamed the engineering and computer school as the Fariborz Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science.
In 1991, Maseeh founded IntelliSense Corp. in Massachusetts. The company made tiny electronic devices such as sensors and accelerometers for use in cars, airplanes and pacemakers. Corning bought the company five years ago.
After selling IntelliSense, Maseeh and his family moved to Orange County, home to many Iranian immigrants and entrepreneurs. He is chairman of the foundation at Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
OC’s other Iranian entrepreneurs include Hadi Makarechian, head of Newport Beach-based real estate company Capital Pacific Holdings Inc., and Paul Merage, who invented Hot Pockets frozen food and gave $30 million to UCI’s business school last month, the largest gift yet for the campus.
