Posted by chicagomedia.org on April 23, 2009 at 07:33:41:
Roger Ebert and wife make $1 million gift to University of Illinois
It's the feel-good newspaper story of the day.
Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert and his wife, Chaz, have made a gift of $1 million toward creation of the Roger Ebert Program for Film Studies Fund at the University of Illinois, his alma mater.
The gift was announced during the 11th annual Roger Ebert's Film Festival in Champaign. The event is staged by the university's College of Media, which is formalizing arrangements to launch the Department of Media and Cinema Studies.
Fundraising will continue. When the principal of the Roger Ebert Program reaches $5 million, it will become the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies, which will house the program's activities within the new department.
"The University of Illinois is deep in my heart as a great institution," Ebert said in a statement. "It informed and enriched me. Although there were no film courses when I was an undergraduate, it nevertheless guided me in my lifelong love of film. I hope when this program and center are fully realized, they will inspire new generations."
Ebert, 66, who grew up in Urbana and began his journalism career as a sports writer for the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette at age 15, previously has said he would donate his papers and material to the university's library.
He also has given the school a video tape archive of the syndicated movie review programs on which he appeared until health issues robbed him of his speaking voice in 2006.
Earlier, Urbana officials decided to honor Ebert by placing a bronze plaque on the sidewalk in front of 410 E. Washington St., which was Ebert's home address with his parents from his birth in 1942 until 1961.
(Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune)