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Gordon and Betty Moore: A better world through philanthropy
by Carol Menaker
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Through their foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore support a wide range of conservation and educational projects. “ Berkeley is clearly the premier state university,” Gordon says. “Nothing else comes close.”
PHOTOS COURTESY GORDON & BETTY MOORE FOUNDATION
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Gordon Moore (B.S.’50 Chemistry), co-founder and chairman emeritus of Intel, has devoted nearly half a century to creating and advancing technologies that make our world a better place to live. Retired from Intel since 1997, he and his wife of 54 years, Betty, now focus their attention on philanthropic efforts aimed at preserving that world for generations to come.
In 2000, they founded the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to support a wide range of projects to which they are dedicated, primarily environmental science and higher education efforts.
Through the foundation last fall, the Moores made a five-year, $5.6 million grant to Berkeley’s Biology Scholars Program (BSP), designed specifically to help underserved and underrepresented students prepare for careers in medicine and science and, ultimately, help diversify the health care workforce in the U.S.
Currently, underrepresented minorities—including African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians—represent only 9 percent of nurses, 6 percent of doctors, and 5 percent of dentists nationwide. Since it was established in 1992, the BSP has supported more than 800 students, and current enrollment is 450.
“I got a very good education here,” Gordon says. “But institutions like Berkeley can’t expect to get all their funding from the government. They have to look to alumni and others to support some of their more ambitious projects.”
In 1998, the Moores made a generous contribution to the Hearst Memorial Mining Building renovation and retrofit. They are also active in the environmental organization Conservation International, for which Gordon serves as board member and executive committee chair. The organization is dedicated to preserving the Earth’s “hot spots” of biodiversity, which comprise a mere 1.4 percent of the planet’s surface but are believed to contain 60 percent of all terrestrial plant and animal species.
“Gordon and I have been very close to conservation issues all of our lives,” says Betty. “We were both raised in rural areas and have always been aware of what the soil could do for us. To see the devastation of these wild places is heartbreaking.”
The Moores have traveled to many of these remote areas to witness what is happening. “Unfortunately, these regions are being opened up and developed or wiped out,” adds Gordon. “If these hot spots can’t be saved, we may be looking at the last generation who will have wild places on Earth.”
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