Pioneer Alaska businessman donates $2.6 million to UAF.

• Author: Pounds, Nancy
• Position: DONATIONS

Longtime Alaskan Ronald F. Cosgrave donated $2.6 million to the University of Alaska. The donation marks the single largest gift ever given to the university by a living alumnus, according to UA officials. The funds helped purchase 30 acres of undeveloped land near the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. Cosgrave, now 75, came to Alaska in 1954. He was the first chemical engineering graduate of the university and received a teaching fellowship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He returned to Fairbanks and later started Northern Alaska Development Corp., a real estate development firm. He also served as chairman and...