He gave $20 million for UK's new student center. They named it after him.
The University of Kentucky gave thanks once again to one of its most generous donors Monday, naming the new Bill Gatton Student Center in honor of the man who made it possible.
Carol Martin "Bill" Gatton, a UK alumnus and former trustee who turned his first car dealership into a multi-state empire, made the $200 million project feasible with a signature gift of $20 million.
That's on top of the $14 million Gatton gave to the College of Business and Economics that's also named for him, not to mention gifts he's made to other schools, like the Gatton Academy for gifted high school students at Western Kentucky University, or the Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy at Eastern Tennessee State, near where Gatton currently resides.
The UK Board of Trustees is expected to formally approve the naming of the new student center on Tuesday. President Eli Capilouto unveiled a wall in the three-story atrium of the new facility featuring a portrait and biography of Gatton.
Capilouto became visibly choked up as he recounted Gatton's life and work.
"That is Bill Gatton's legacy," he said, his voice breaking. "A lifetime of success and endeavors, too many to count. A lifetime of joyous, deep giving to the students of this university, this university, the University for Kentucky."
Gatton, who is 85, attended Monday's ceremony, but addressed the crowd via a pre-taped speech. In it, he recounted a chilldhood on a Muhlenberg County farm, where he sold watermelons on the roadside to save money for his designated college: UK.
"The University of Kentucky prepared me for my life," he said. "It is very dear to my heart and it is my number one choice for personal philanthropy. I believe in the University of Kentucky and its students and its staff and its faculty, and that's why I made this gift to the University of Kentucky for the new student center."
That center, built and expanded atop the university's former student center, is a three-story, glass and steel facility. It holds the UK Bookstore, numerous dining choices, student organizations, and meeting rooms centered around a "social staircase," where students can congregate.
The $200 million price tag was split among numerous entities, but about 80 percent — $160 million — will be paid off over the next 30 years using a portion of student fees and various revenues produced by the center, such as dining costs, room rentals and offices of such entities as PNC Bank and the UK Federal Credit Union. The other 20 percent in equity was provided through Gatton's gift and parts of construction paid for by Aramark, UK's dining contractor, and Barnes and Noble, which built the bookstore.
Officials said that while most student centers require a separate student fee, Gatton's gift meant they only needed a portion of fees already approved by student government. That portion is about $4 million a year. When the building is paid off, that portion of the fee can be retired or diverted to another cause.
After the ceremony, which was attended by trustees and hundreds of faculty, students and staff, Gatton said: "I feel over-complimented. I didn't deserve all that."
This story was originally published April 30, 2018 at 2:36 PM with the headline "He gave $20 million for UK's new student center. They named it after him.."