May 2003

Rogers Pledges $3 Million to Desert Research Institute
(Excerpted from a May 10 Las Vegas Review Journal and a May 9 DRI News Release)

Broadcast company owner Jim Rogers has pledged $3 million to Nevada's Desert Research Institute for its Las Vegas Science and Technology Building, which includes the Atomic Testing Museum. The donation is the largest private donation to DRI in its 44-year history.

Slated for completion this summer, the 66,000-square-foot $13.1 million addition to DRI's campus at 755 E. Flamingo Road in Las Vegas marked its groundbreaking last June. The building will be named in honor of Rogers' father, Frank H. Rogers, who was a central figure in the early development and operation of the Nevada Test Site. Additional funding for the project comes from state capital improvement appropriations, state revenue bonds, and a DRI and NTS Historical Foundation-sponsored capital campaign.

Two-thirds of the Rogers donation is earmarked for construction of the new facility and build-out of the Atomic Testing Museum. With the remaining $1 million, DRI will create a new interdisciplinary center dedicated to environmental contaminant detection and cleanup. To be called the Center for Environmental Remediation and Monitoring, the facility will also be named in the honor of the senior Rogers.

Named one of the nation's top twelve philanthropists by Time magazine in 2000, Jim Rogers has donated in excess of $200 million to schools, universities, and other non-profits in recent years. Rogers owns Sunbelt Communications, which operates NBC and Fox affiliate TV stations in nine western U.S. communities, including KVBC Channel 3 in Las Vegas and KRNV Channel 4 in Reno.