[B]URLINGTON — The University of Vermont announced Tuesday night that its new athletics facility will be named after IDX founder and former Republican Senate candidate Richard Tarrant and his wife Deborah.
The Tarrants donated $15 million toward the project, making it one of the largest gifts in university history and the largest capital gift the university has ever recieved.
The $95 million project will feature the renovation of the university’s hockey arena, Gutterson Fieldhouse, the construction of a new arena for the men’s and women’s basketball teams, and the repurposing of Patrick Gymnasium as a fitness center for all students. It will be called the Tarrant Event Center.
Tarrant, 76, graduated from St. Michael’s College before founding South Burlington-based health-care software provider IDX Systems Corp. The company was sold to General Electric for $1.2 billion in 2006. He and Deborah founded the Tarrant Foundation, which makes donations throughout Vermont.
Tarrant also ran for Senate in 2006 against Bernie Sanders. Tarrant spent $7 million of his own money in his campaign to replace incumbent Jim Jeffords, who decided not to seek re-election.
Sanders defeated Tarrant resoundingly, receiving more than twice as many votes.
In October, the UVM Board of Trustees approved a resolution finalizing plans for the athletic facility. The resolution requires the university to bring in $30 million for athletics by Feb. 1, 2019. At least $15 million of that $30 million will come from signed commitments the university would receive as cash by the end of 2021.
At a press conference, university president Tom Sullivan said the school has nearly met its goal for philanthropic support of the event center.
The project is set to be completed in stages during the 2020-21 school year. Construction is scheduled in a way that will allow the university’s hockey and basketball teams to continue playing in Gutterson Fieldhouse and Patrick Gymnasium during construction.
The naming of the arena was announced Tuesday night at Patrick Gymnasium before the UVM men’s basketball game against St. Bonaventure. UVM beat St. Bonaventure 83-76 in double overtime to improve to 9-3 on the year.
Tarrant told the crowd that he originally was a walk-on for the St. Bonaventure basketball team before transferring to St. Mike’s. He was good enough to be drafted by the Boston Celtics in the fourth round of the 1965 NBA draft, but didn’t make the team.
Deborah Tarrant was the director of the National Sales Accounting Department for Office Depot. Since 2016, she has been the mayor of Hillsboro Beach, Florida, and runs the Tarrant Foundation with Richard.
With the gift, the Tarrants became the second largest donors in UVM history. They have also donated to the university’s College of Education and Social Services, UVM Cancer Center, the Larner College of Medicine and the Dudley H. Davis Student Center.
Tarrant was a member of the university’s Board of Trustees from 1994 to 2000 and his three sons were varsity athletes at UVM.
“A university of this caliber, especially in a small community, is an incredible resource,” Tarrant said in a press release. “Deb and I believe in investing in projects that have an impact far beyond campus, including projects like this one.”
