Dean’s Parents Give UW $5 Million University Officials Identify Anonymous Donors, Whose Gift Will Benefit Center For The Humanities

A $5 million anonymous gift to a humanities center at the University of Washington turns out to be a family affair.

Officials at the University Office of Development this week confirmed that the donation came from Barclay and Sharon Simpson, the parents of John Simpson, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

The Center for the Humanities falls within that college. It will be renamed the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities, in honor of John Simpson’s grandfather.

The donation is the ninth-largest single gift to the university in its history.

President Richard McCormick announced last week that the university would use the donation to expand the Center for the Humanities, an interdisciplinary program that aims to improve the humanities on campus and make them more accessible to students and the public.

Barclay Simpson is the chairman of Simpson Manufacturing, based in Pleasanton, Calif. The company makes connectors for construction materials and vents for fireplaces and stoves.

As word leaked out of the identity of the donors, Barclay Simpson tried to duck further attention.

“I am not interested in any publicity,” Simpson said in a phone message. “The only reason that I let my name be used at all is because I thought it might help to raise more for the Humanities Center, but I want no more publicity at all.”