Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Joins the Simons Foundation and Stony Brook University for a Historic Endowment Gift Announcement

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul joined the Simons Foundation and Stony Brook University for a historic endowment gift announcement in Manhattan.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks are available below:

It is such a glorious day. What a celebration - of love, the love story that began with these two individuals who stayed committed to each other, but at the time perhaps had not realized that after 50 years you would be so committed to this institution that brought you together. So, it is a love story. It is a story of faith, of people who believed in this institution and believed it could be even better than it was, better than they found it.

As Jim said, "No one even heard of it" when he went there. I guarantee across the world, they've all heard of Stony Brook right now. So, thank you. Dr. McInnis, I was aware of the search committee that went on for you and I was close to Jim and Rich, and we all knew that we wanted to find the best. And they succeeded. And I thank you for assuming the responsibility, and I believe it is also their confidence in you that helped lead to this gift because they're confident of the future of Stony Brook under your leadership. Let's give another round of applause to our great president.

And David, thank you for helping bring it all together and all the great work you're doing here as well. And we have our chancellor, John King is here. Chancellor, we saw you give your inaugural address yesterday in our state capitol and it was powerful. And I thank you for, again, leaving the leadership positions you've had in your career -President Obama's Secretary of Education and now found his place back to New York. So, welcome home to our new chancellor.

I say your graduates do pretty well. I'm looking at Kevin Law, who is also the chairman of Empire State Development, among many roles he has had - he was the regional co-chair. But a great leader, another person who, when I first became Lieutenant Governor, made sure I knew where Stony Brook was. I'd been there many times. I'd walked again. I didn't miss a single ribbon cutting. So, Kevin Law, thank you for your leadership with Empire State Development at this timeas well.

And speaking of leaders in my life, your graduate from 1988, Karen Keogh, at the time, or Karen Persichilli at the time, I want to thank her for her work with the trustees. I had to pull her away to come to me. I'm sorry to leave that hole in your board, but believe me, she wears the red every single day. And she does, she bleeds the red. So, thank you. Thank you, Karen, for being at my side and governing a complicated state, but it is an honor that we both share.

So, you've all said it all. This is the largest, unrestricted gift in our nation's history. I like making history here in New York. We've done a lot of great things here.

And the first time I sat down with Jim, he may not remember this, but he says, "I want Stony Brook to be a flagship institution." I'm like, "What's the flagship institution? How is that different than other institutions?" I came to find out that if I declare it to be a flagship institution, it becomes a flagship institution. So, I did it. I did it. I have been - I declared it in my first State of the State Address in January of 2022 that would've been. And I realized that the branding as a flagship puts us in the same realm as the other public institutions. You think around the nation, and you say, "Why aren't we in that group? Why aren't we?" And there is no reason why we're not because now we have the resources.

Thank you so much for your generosity. We have the resources, we have the talent at the top, we have committed members of the community who believe in the power of the economic opportunities that are generated by the research that's done. The commercialization, the graduates that have gone around the world and have changed how we think about everything from mathematics and quantum computing and all the other areas where you're just so innovative. And now to take on saving the planet. I admire the audacity in your vision. I really do. I'm right up there with you. Why not Stony Brook? Why not Governor's Island? Why not make it happen right here in the State of New York where we find the solutions that we have overlooked for so long? It's going to happen now. So, I am very excited about this day.

And I also want to thank so many people, the alumni, again, I mentioned the alumni, you are such true believers. They really - I've never seen such a tight alumni group in the world. I see a lot of in people across the state, but for a public institution, to have that same sense of loyalty and that same belief in the future is powerful and you've harnessed that power so beautifully to bring people together toward a shared vision. And that is why you are unstoppable. You are absolutely unstoppable. So, my small part was to come up with this endowment idea, which I didn't realize was going to be so expensive for me. Wasn't counting on the largest unrestricted endowment gift in the nation's history. That I have to match at 40 percent. But if that was an inspiration in you coming forward, then it was worth it.

And we want to make sure that others also follow your leadership of the generosity, the kindness of heart, the willingness to do something for generations to come, and you made a difference. And I do believe it's inspiring others to step forward and to say, "Let's make similar investments." Because I am saying a public institution like Stony Brook has no limits right now. There is nothing we cannot do. And I'm so excited to be Governor at this moment in history because this is a history making moment as our President pointed out. So, I thank you. I will keep the endowment going as long as the State still has money.

Let's inspire others to make the same kind of commitment that the Simons' have with this day. And again, it is a glorious day. And I thank all of you for just being such good New Yorkers, great New Yorkers, and I know we had a great New Yorker who believed in SUNY a couple generations ago, and that would've been my predecessor, Rockefeller.

He had a little bit more money than I did, Jim. So I can't bring personal wealth to the endeavor, but my commitment is there to make sure the State's resources lift up this institution. Because when I was growing up under Rockefeller, hearing the name SUNY meant something. We lost a little bit of that grandeur and we're taking it back, starting today.

So congratulations to everyone, the Stony Brook family. Thank you.