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BOCA RATON - The head of Florida Atlantic University's fundraising organization has taken back a $750,000 pledge because the recently approved state budget failed to provide funding for a matching donation.
FAU Foundation chairman Herbert Gimelstob and his wife, Elaine, made the gift to build a Judaic studies center named for them. The Gimelstobs and other donors have raised more than $1-million.
The donations qualified for a state program that matches major donations to public universities. But cuts to university budgets by the Legislature last month prevented FAU from matching the donation, university officials said Monday.
Herbert Gimelstob, a real estate executive, said the project relied on a $1-million match and "if I put up the money, I want a guarantee it's going to be built."
Other donors to the project will also get refunds, he said.
Lawmakers also did not pass what is normally a routine bill permitting the naming of buildings after living people. Gimelstob denied that was a factor in his decision, but FAU president Frank Brogan said it was.
"We weren't in a position to be good to either of these commitments. And on that basis, I understand (the Gimelstobs' decision)," Brogan said.