Anonymous donor contributes $20M toward CSU research facility

FORT COLLINS — An anonymous racehorse breeder has donated $20 million to Colorado State University to build a regenerative medicine research facility, fulfilling a $65 million matching challenge from lead donors and fellow horse aficionados John and Leslie Malone.

In December 2014, the Malones pledged $42.5 million — the largest cash gift in CSU history — for the planned facility. The gift was prompted by their interest in stem-cell therapy and its effectiveness in treating equine joint problems; the Malones raise world-class dressage horses and thoroughbred racehorses.

The donations allow construction of the CSU Institute for Biologic Translational Therapies, which promises to tap the body’s healing powers for innovative treatments that improve animal and human health. Groundbreaking will occur later this year; an exact date has not been set.

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On Feb. 13, CSU announced its first $1 billion campaign to generate philanthropic support for teaching, research, outreach and veterinary clinical services. The university is more than halfway to fulfilling that goal with help from the sizeable gifts for regenerative research.

CSU professor Wayne McIlwraith and Barbara Cox Anthony, chair of CSU’s orthopaedic research, are leading the planning effort for the facility.

McIlwraith and his veterinary colleagues have treated joint problems in horses owned by the Malones and by the anonymous donor.