Photo: Robert Benson Photography
The nine-story, 350,000-square-foot new education and research building standing tall along the campus quad on the UMass Chan Medical School campus in Worcester has an official name: the Paul J. DiMare Center.
In recognition of a $35 million gift from the Paul J. DiMare Foundation, the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees voted today to support the recommendation of Chancellor Michael F. Collins to name the building after Paul J. DiMare, a nationally known agricultural leader, philanthropist and Massachusetts native who was committed to supporting health care and medical research.
The gift supports research into neurodegenerative and genetic diseases, especially ALS, and the recruitment of outstanding biomedical research faculty at all career stages at UMass Chan. The $35 million commitment is the third largest ever received by the University of Massachusetts and will be designated entirely for the endowment.
“Thanks to the generosity and the foresight of the Paul J. DiMare Foundation, this gift provides a significant investment in the promise of biomedical research at UMass Chan to improve the health and wellness of people here and around the world,” said Chancellor Collins. “According to his family, Mr. DiMare’s wish was to ‘cure the incurables’ and the Paul J. DiMare Center now symbolizes the seminal breakthroughs our world-class institution continues to make in basic and translational science that have far-reaching impacts in conquering disease.”
The Paul J. DiMare Foundation honors the legacy of the DiMare family patriarch. Born and raised in Belmont, Massachusetts, DiMare began working in his family’s produce business, at Boston’s Haymarket Square, as a child and over the years eventually led and expanded operations and distribution nationally to become one of the country’s most innovative, inventive and influential agricultural business leaders. Today, the DiMare Company, based in Homestead, Florida, is one of the largest fresh-market tomato growers and distributors in the country. DiMare was also a committed philanthropist who was deeply involved in numerous community organizations and nonprofits when he died in 2022 at the age of 81.
Anthony J. DiMare, Paul’s son, said the Paul J. DiMare Foundation has a long-standing commitment to supporting health care and medical research and the DiMare family is “pleased to play a part in supporting UMass Chan and advancing research in neurodegenerative diseases, especially ALS.”
“My father’s vision was to accelerate research to one day find cures for these devastating diseases. As he would say, ‘cure the incurables,’” he said.
The building opened June 7, 2024, with an event at which the Director-General of the World Health Organization delivered the keynote address. Certified LEED Gold by the U.S. Green Buildings Council last month, the research building is home to more than 70 principal investigators focused on neurology, neurobiology, neuroscience, psychiatry, molecular medicine and gene therapy.
"The Board of Trustees is proud to approve naming the Paul J. DiMare Center,” said UMass Board of Trustees Chair Stephen Karam. “The DiMare family’s generosity and commitment to groundbreaking research in ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases will enable scientific breakthroughs and treatments that will change lives. We are very grateful to the DiMare family for this monumental gift to the commonwealth’s public medical school.”
UMass President Marty Meehan said, “Paul J. DiMare’s legacy will impact future generations through the work of his foundation to support groundbreaking medical research, especially into neurodegenerative diseases like ALS, and it is very fitting to name the new education and research center in his honor. We are extremely grateful to the DiMare family for this historic gift to UMass Chan Medical School that will transform lives. I would also like to recognize Chancellor Michael Collins, whose leadership at the medical school inspires incredible acts of philanthropy.”
