Fang Donates $3 Million To UC Berkeley Library
October 27, 2006
BERKELEY — Inside the cozy Morrison Library at UC Berkeley, AsianWeek chairwoman Florence Fang announced her $3 million donation to the construction of the campus’s new C.V. Starr East Asian Library and Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies on Oct. 19.
Her donation completes the funding needed for the $51-million four-story library. Scheduled to open in 2007, this will be the first freestanding building ever constructed on an American university campus solely for East Asian collections. The facility has been completely funded by private donations.
This building will be located in the middle of the campus and will bring together the university’s East Asian Studies resources and programs, all of which are currently scattered in various locations across campus.
The central study area in the new library will be named the Florence Lee Fang Reading Room.
“I hope to strengthen UC Berkeley’s commitment to Asian, especially Chinese studies,” said Fang. “For me there is no better way and no better bridge to understand each other than through education. I am very happy to be involved in this project.”
“More than 40 years ago, I came to the United States as a new bride,” she continued. “In this land, I started my family, my business and my dream. America adopted me and gave me a good opportunity to fulfill my dream. It is time to give back.”
Six months ago, Fang donated the priceless archives of the San Francisco Examiner newspaper — the first daily to be owned by an Asian American family, to the campus.
Fang is fond of UC Berkeley as it is the alma mater of her late husband, AsianWeek founder John Fang, and their three sons — James, Ted, and Douglas.
“Over 43 percent of our students are of Asian American descent,” said Chancellor Robert Birgeneau. “The library will provide an opportunity for many of our students to learn about their heritage and the new facility will no doubt encourage and inspire scholarship, drawing students and scholars from across the campus and the world.”
Director of the East Asian Library Peter Zhou said UC Berkeley has been collecting East Asian materials for over 100 years.
“Our collection is one of the largest and richest outside of Asia,” said Zhou. “We hope that the new Starr Library will enhance our performance as a learning center, a research center and a cultural center.”
The East Asian Library offers one of the nation’s most comprehensive collections of East Asian materials outside the Library of Congress. There are approximately 900,000 pieces in books, maps, manuscripts and other items.
“Florence Fang has been a dynamic leader throughout the years and we are very fortunate that she has shared her time and energy with this campus,” said Zhou. “She is an ardent supporter of public education, especially education that will contribute to Asian American understanding.”
In 1986, then-President Ronald Reagan appointed Fang to the White House Conference on Small Businesses and the California Senate named her “1990 Woman of the Year.”
She has been the recipient of many civic awards, including the Women Who Could Be President Award from the League of Women Voters, and the Woman Warrior Award from the Pacific Asian American Woman Bay Area Council.
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