Chairman emeritus of Universal Forest Products Inc. and major donor Peter Secchia sits between his wife Joan Secchia, hidden, and MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon while waiting to speak at a groundbreaking event for the Secchia Center Monday afternoon in Grand Rapids.
While attending the groundbreaking of the building that will bear his name, Peter Secchia appeared casual, almost like an observer.
It was his $10 million lead gift that jump-started the fundraising for MSU’s medical school in Grand Rapids, but he deflected attention to the groundbreaking ceremony for the center on Monday.
“This isn’t about me,” Secchia said. “This is about the Grand Rapids medical school and MSU.”
After all, Secchia was quick to name other instances where he received too much credit. When MSU officials initially said his lead gift had been $20 million, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said Secchia wanted it clarified.
“His actual gift was really $10 million. The person who gave the other gift wished to be anonymous,” Simon said. “That’s where the confusion came from.”
John Canepa, co-chairman of Grand Action Committee, a nonprofit organization of philanthropists based in Grand Rapids, said $37.4 million has been raised of the necessary $40 million sought in private donations for the $90 million Secchia Center.
“And we are in the final stages with a major donor that will put us over our original $40 million goal,” Canepa said, although he was unable to release the potential donor’s name.
Spectrum Health pledged the other $55 million, which also will cover principal and interest payments on the building for 25 years.
“We thought it was a worthwhile investment,” said Richard Breon, president and CEO of Spectrum Health.
But without Secchia, the medical school could have never come to fruition, said Donald Maine, former chancellor of Davenport University.
“He was the genesis of the idea of bringing the new MSU College of Human Medicine to Grand Rapids,” Maine said. “But he thought the idea was more important than who came up with it.”
Secchia’s humility could be a product of his beginnings. He was a 22-year-old former U.S. Marine when he enrolled at MSU as the first in his family to go to college, he said.
The man Secchia is today, a former chairman of Universal Forest Products Inc. and ambassador to Italy, scarcely resembles the kid from New Jersey who had to hitchhike across the country just to get to East Lansing.
“I’m 71 now, but I was just a kid then,” Secchia said after a moment of reflection. “Holy moly.”
An economics degree from MSU and a few decades of successful entrepreneurship later, Secchia was poised with the wealth and ability to return the favor to the institution that gave him his education.
And he’s excited for the final product, he said. A Grand Rapids native, Secchia thinks the medical school will benefit MSU’s medical research and attract better physicians to the area.
“They’ve already hired several scientists working at Spectrum and the Van Andel Institute,” he said. “The collaboration of the medical school and the partners in Grand Rapids is really amazing.”
MSU medical students already are feeling the effects of Secchia’s generosity in aiding MSU’s expansion.
Last year, MSU increased enrollment to the College of Human Medicine by 47.2 percent for first-year enrollees in anticipation of the new facility, admitting 156 students. The nationwide growth within the field was 2.3 percent.
In 2010, when the center will open for the first four-year class of medical students, MSU plans to admit 200 students — a full 100 percent more than the average class before plans for the new medical school were released.
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Secchia said he was glad he could make a difference in two of his homes — the MSU community and the Grand Rapids community.
“I’m just happy I was able to associate my assets with institutions I could admire,” he said.
