Oracle founder Larry Ellison
A serious bicycle accident suffered by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison in the early 1990s ultimately resulted in a $5 million donation that helped expand research into bone and muscle disorders at UC Davis, according to the university. Ellison, the co-founder and longtime chief executive of Oracle, shattered his elbow in a bicycle crash in 1992. Following the surgery, Ellison donated $5 million to support musculoskeletal research and patient care at the university. UC Davis announced the pledge in September 1995, when it reported record private giving of $41.5 million for fiscal year 1994-95. That was a 39 percent increase over the $29.8 million raised the year before. The $5 million pledge was meant to create three endowed chairs and a musculoskeletal institute in the School of Medicine.
The centre focuses on conditions affecting bones, muscles and joints, bringing together experts from multiple disciplines, according to UC Davis. The Oracle co-founder’s gift helped build a musculoskeletal research and care program at UC Davis that is still part of the university’s orthopaedic identity. The injury was treated by Michael Chapman, an orthopaedic surgeon at UC Davis, who successfully reconstructed the damaged joint. The gift helped establish what became the Lawrence J. Ellison Musculoskeletal Research Center, where physicians, surgeons and scientists work on research aimed at preventing and treating musculoskeletal disorders. Ellison, then CEO of Oracle, made the largest single gift of the year.