Light the Way: The Campaign for Berkeley

One made his fortune in real estate, the other in ice cream. But Gerson Bakar ’48 and T. Gary Rogers ’63, both of whom passed away earlier this year, shared a love for Berkeley that revealed itself through lifelong, generous support for their alma mater — and will continue to enhance the university for generations to come.

The son of a Petaluma chicken farmer, Bakar earned a degree in business administration in 1948 and launched a stellar career as a real estate developer, counting San Francisco’s Levi’s Plaza among his most notable projects.

Bakar was a man of deep integrity who employed business practices that enabled him to build and maintain healthy relationships with his associates and the public — emphasizing the need to further the greater good through business. In a 1978 commencement address at the Haas School of Business, he encouraged graduates to cultivate the kind of economic growth that improves lives.

At Berkeley, Bakar and his wife, Barbara, created the Bakar Fellows Program in 2011 to support early-career faculty undertaking innovative science and technology research. Several fellows have applied for patents on their projects, and others have founded companies — reflecting the Bakars’ hope that the program would increase Berkeley’s contributions to the California economy.

Bakar also cofounded and remained involved with the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics, served on the Haas advisory board, and was a founding member of the Chancellor’s Executive Advisory Council.

“I have seen a real continuity between Gerson the builder and Barbara and Gerson the philanthropists,” California Gov. Jerry Brown said in a 2013 video honoring the Bakars, “building the civic infrastructure of the Bay Area — not for a few years, but for decades.”

A legendary figure in Cal Athletics history, Gary Rogers will be remembered and cherished as a devoted friend of Cal rowing whose unconditional support has inspired and fueled its success since his time as a student-athlete.

A rower during his undergraduate days, he was named a Cal All-University Athlete in 1963 and rowed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1964. “My crew coach would always say, ‘There’s no such thing as can’t, only won’t,’” Rogers told the San Francisco Business Times in 2011. “It’s the power of optimism and persistence. The joy in life is the struggle.”

Rogers enjoyed a highly successful business career, which included serving as chairman and CEO of Dreyer’s Ice Cream for 30 years, and as chairman of Levi Strauss & Co. and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. He and partner William F. (Rick) Cronk purchased Dreyer’s in 1977 and transformed it from a small, regional company into a leading global enterprise before selling the business to Nestle in 2002.

Rogers contributed generously to men’s and women’s rowing, men’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, rugby, and football. He also offered significant support to the Doe and Bancroft libraries, the Cal Alumni Association, Haas, the UC Botanical Garden, and public research and engagement centers on campus.