Eugene Jarvis and his wife, Sasha Gerritson, a DePaul alumna and trustee, donated the funds that will create a student center for “innovation and collaboration,” an endowed scholarship and a research collaboration with the Ruff Institute of Global Homelessness, the university said in a news release Monday.
DePaul called the donation a “transformative act of generosity that will have a profound impact on our students.”
A DePaul spokesperson declined to release the gift amount, citing the wishes of the donor. The university’s previous largest donation was a $30 million gift from Chicago philanthropist Richard Driehaus in 2012 for its College of Commerce, a spokesperson said.
The College of Computing and Digital Media includes more than 5,400 undergraduate and graduate students, according to the university. It offers programs for computer science, cybersecurity, data science, game design and other areas. The college will be renamed the Eugene P. Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media, the release said.
“Eugene and Sasha’s legacy gift ensures CDM will continue to empower generations of student leaders and innovators for years to come, helping build a brighter collective future,” said DePaul President A. Gabriel Esteban.
Jarvis was born in California’s Silicon Valley and after college was hired by Atari. He has designed a number of successful arcade video games, such as “Defender” and “Robotron,” according to a 2012 Tribune profile. He now leads the Skokie-based video game company Raw Thrills.
In 2008, Jarvis was named the first game-designer-in-residence at DePaul, where he worked with student developers.
“Sasha and I are thrilled to help one of DePaul’s most exciting, vital colleges expand its innovative, collaborative, hands-on programs,” Jarvis said in the news release.
©2022 Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
