WHY I GIVE: ‘I Get Satisfaction Building the University of Florida Up'

Minutes after his law school commencement ceremony ended, Jack Bierley (BA ’58, LLB ’63) dug into his pocket and made a small donation to the university. In all the years since, he’s never stopped giving back.

THEN: In 1954, Bierley left home in Palm Beach County, skirting the east side of Lake Okeechobee on a rural, two-lane road trip north to UF. His freshman dorm, South Hall, had no air conditioning. The world revolved around the intersection of 13th and University. He didn’t call home much; a long-distance call was a luxury. Few people had cars. “It wasn’t assumed everyone would go to college, but I didn’t consider any other school.”

NOW: “I think UF is still the place most people focus on.” As a frequent visitor, Bierley has kept up with rapid change on campus. “New buildings are going up all over the place. I enjoy going to the Harn Museum and the Florida Museum of Natural History, and I support those things.”

THEN: Bierley remembers a 1954 freshman assembly, when the dean of men told students: “Look at the person on your right. Now look at the person on your left. A year from now one of those people won’t be there.” Bierley says UF was already kind of big – 9,500 students – and had strong academic standards. “If you didn’t make the grades, you went into the military and finished up later.”

NOW: Bierley speaks to law students about international legal practice and keeps his finger on the pulse of UF. “I never ended my association with the university.” He has been on the law school advisory board, is a life member of the UF Foundation Board (“they won’t let me off”) and supports scholarship funds and endowed professorships.

THEN: Bierley’s interest in politics led him to classes with “Wild Bill” Carleton, who was on a first name basis with politicians like George Smathers and Claude Pepper. Carleton told students to stop reading their textbooks; they’d learn more from his lectures. “Fact was, it was true!”

NOW: A career in international law has taken Bierley all over the world. He’s the only American on the board of a bank in the Cayman Islands and travels for fun, too, most recently on expedition to Uganda.

THEN: Bierley was involved in Student Government and Florida Blue Key. “Oh, the egos. We were all going to at least be governor of Florida.” It wasn’t hubris. Classmates Bob Graham and Lawton Chiles did go on to be governor. Bierley was in law school when a young man asked for support in a bid to be freshman class president. That was former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, now administrator of NASA. “All our leaders in Florida had gone to UF: governors, senators, congressmen, all to Florida.”

NOW: Bierley is a member of the UF Hall of Fame. He says UF makes a huge contribution to society. “I support that, and I enjoy the association with others who support that. I like the feeling of teamwork, with the faculty and the presidents and the students. It’s like a family.”

THEN: Bierley remembers walking out of his law school commencement ceremony in 1963 and encountering a young woman collecting for the UF fund. “I reached in my pocket and gave her $5 or $10, whatever was in my pocket.”

NOW: Bierley is the alum with the longest record of giving back to UF, making a donation of some amount each year since 1963. As Bierley approaches his 60th year of support for UF he says, “It’s payback time. I believe you have to give back, and I’ve been fortunate in life to be able to do it.”