Besides the land itself, the biggest opportunity Bren inherited when he bought into The Irvine Co. was UCI. He has been a major benefactor of the campus, which opened in 1965 to become one of the leading public research universities in the country.

What benefited Bren - every community of note needs its university - turned into a passion. He has donated more than $19 million to buildings and endowed chairs.

Why give at all, to any group? "First, because I believe we have an obligation to give back to the world when we have succeeded," Bren answers. "Second, because I am able to. And, third, to make a difference in areas for which I have an interest and passion. For me, that is education, conservation, and the visual and performing arts."

The Donald L. Bren Foundation focuses a majority of its funding on educational pursuits. These include UC Santa Barbara - in 1997, his $15 million gift created the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management - and Orange County school districts, where awards nights turn the spotlight on outstanding teachers and students. The foundation and the company have committed more than $140 million to K-12 schools and higher education over the past 20 years; Chapman University and Caltech also have benefited. Bren's tremendous wealth could continue to deeply feed his interests.

Bren also is a leading UCI cheerleader.

"I'm not certain many people in Orange County fully appreciate the economic, intellectual, artistic and social stimulus that UCI represents in our region," he says. "It really is a remarkable institution.

"Over time, I believe UCI's prominent role as a major catalyst for economic growth will be better understood and appreciated. It will make contributions in medicine, computer science and the natural sciences that we can barely conceptualize today. I see its importance to our local economy as parallel to the role Stanford University played as the catalyst for the Silicon Valley. When that occurs, the world can look back to the early 1960s and document that that outcome was the early dream of William Pereira and The Irvine Co.'s first planners."