Businessman donates $75M to USC for arts and sciences internships, brain research
Apr 23, 2025 | 12:22 pm ET
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Businessman and University of South Carolina alumnus Peter McCausland, along with his wife Bonnie, donated $75 million to his alma mater Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (Photo by Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — The founder of the world’s fifth largest supplier of specialty gas is donating $75 million to the University of South Carolina.
The gift from Peter McCausland and his wife Bonnie, of Palm Beach, Florida, marks the largest single donation to South Carolina’s largest public university system.
In return, USC will re-name its college of arts and science for McCausland, a native of Philadelphia and 1971 USC alumnus.
In 1982, the USC history major started Airgas, which supplies gases for a variety of uses, including oxygen for patients, acetylene for welding, and propane for heating.
About 20% of McCauslands’ landmark gift will fund 150 annual summer internship stipends for students creating “one of the top career development programs available to students in the liberal arts and sciences in the country.”
McCausland, 75, said his fondest memories from USC came from professors who inspired him.
“I hope to continue the legacy of excellence of the faculty in the college of arts and sciences, while expanding the opportunities for students majoring in arts and sciences to leave USC with the curiosity and critical-thinking skills to help them pursue their dreams,” he said.
About $14 million of the donation, announced Wednesday in a ceremony on the historic USC Horseshoe, will support the college’s neuroscience program, the college’s fastest-growing major, with research funds for student and faculty.
That will expand the work already being done through the family’s previous gift in 2006 for the university’s McCausland Center for Brain Imaging, which opened that year.
“I thought that was an ingenious way to launch this neuroscience curriculum,” McCausland said.
He noted the center, which serves patients during the day and provides a research tool for students after hospital hours, has since attracted more than $60 million of additional funding.
“So, they must be doing something right, and we were pleased to add on to that,” he said.
What USC’s planned $350M neurological hospital could mean for SC
The brain health portion of the McCausland’s gift comes as USC seeks to build a $350 million specialized neurology and neurosurgery hospital and rehabilitation center designed to handle the state’s most severe stroke, dementia and brain injury cases.
The largest chunk of the donation, about $47 million, will be divvied out throughout the rest of the McCausland College of Arts and Sciences for faculty fellowships and student research projects
“The McCauslands’ gift is truly extraordinary,” said Joel Samuels, the college’s dean.
“At a time when the value of liberal arts and sciences education has been placed in question — and in some cases, directly attacked — (the donation) sends a clear and unequivocal message that a liberal arts and sciences education matters,” Samuels continued.
The department is the largest study area within the university. Every student, whether pursuing a major within that particular college or not, takes classes with arts and sciences professors, President Michael Amiridis said.
“I think there’s a lot of buzz in higher education now about more vocational training and preparing people for the workforce. I think it’s good that people are questioning the value of a college education. I don’t think it’s necessary for everyone,” McCausland said. “On the other hand, I think a liberal arts education gives you such a broad base.”
“Life doesn’t always work out the way that we wanted to,” McCausland added. “We get presented with lots of opportunities and challenges, and I think that a liberal arts education is the best way to take advantage of the opportunities and to meet the challenges.”
McCausland shared his own story as an example.
He started school as a chemistry major but graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history. He then received his law degree from Boston University in 1974 and started his own law practice before founding Airgas.
“I never had a business course, but I was prepared to succeed in business because of my liberal arts education,” McCausland said. “Business isn’t just about numbers. It’s about people and planning and history.”
McCausland’s previous donations to USC include $10 million in 2013 to support early and mid-career, tenure-track faculty.
McCausland sold Airgas three years later for $13.4 billion following a hostile takeover bid.
The final sale was more than double the original offer and McCausland negotiated to protect the jobs of nearly all his 17,000 employees.
Other major donors to USC:
• Its school of business is named after financial investor Darla Moore, who has made multiple donations amounting to more than $75 million to her alma mater.
• The late Bob McNair, former owner of the NFL’s Houston Texans and USC alumnus, donated $20 million in 1998 to establish a scholarship fund. That was followed by an additional $18 million commitment by the family in 2019, following McNair’s death. The Texas billionaire also gave $8 million in 2016 to found the McNair Institute for Entrepreneurism and Free Enterprise.
• Bill and Lou Kennedy, owners of Nephron Pharmaceuticals, pledged $30 million, establishing the William P. and Lou W. Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center in the College of Pharmacy. The couple has given $10 million. The remaining $20 million will go to the university when they die.
• Joe Rice, a prolific South Carolina trial lawyer credited with winning major settlements for families of 9/11 victims and against BP for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, became the namesake of the law school with a $30 million gift in 2023.
• The Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing is named after Alex Molinaroli, a 1983 USC alumnus, and his wife, Kristin Ihle Molinaroli, for their $30 million dollars to the university last year.
• The Arnold School of Public Health was named in 2002 for business leader Norman Arnold after the pancreatic cancer survivor donated$10 million for teaching and research. The Arnolds gave an additional $7 million in 2015 to create the Gerry Sue and Norman J. Arnold Institute on Aging within the school.
Editor’s note: This article has been corrected to reflect that McCausland received his law degree from Boston University.
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