Seibel founder gives University of Illinois $100 million

The University of Illinois said it has received a gift commitment of $100 million from the founder of software maker Siebel Systems, the Chicago Tribune reported on Saturday.

The university said that graduate Thomas Siebel, 54, will write into his will a $100 million gift for the science and engineering programs on the Urbana-Champaign campus, but the university expects to begin using the money during his lifetime, the paper reported.

Siebel's gift was announced Friday night at an event to begin the school's $2.25 billion fund-raising campaign, according to the paper. It came days after the University of Chicago announced an anonymous donation of the same size to be used for scholarships for low- and moderate-income students.

Siebel told the paper he plans to set up a task force with faculty and administrators to decide how to best use the money, including possibly new buildings, endowed professorships, research and public policy programs.

He said his interest lies in alternative sources of energy, stem-cell research and applying information technology to bioengineering.

Siebel, who has three degrees from the school, said it could begin receiving the money as soon as next year and it will most likely be spent over the next 20 years, according to the paper.

Siebel founded Siebel Systems, which made customer-relationship management software and was sold in 2005 to Oracle Corp for $5.85 billion. Forbes magazine estimated Siebel's fortune last year at $1.5 billion

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