Michael Uren
Sir John Michael Leal Uren was a British businessman. He served as the chairman of Civil & Marine from 1955 to 2006. He donated GBP £40 million to his alma mater, Imperial College London, becoming the most generous benefactor in the College’s history.
Early life
Michael Uren was born on 1 September 1923. He was educated at Sherborne School and Imperial College London, from which he graduated in 1943 with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and Motive Power.Career
Uren founded Civil & Marine, a manufacturer of ground granulated blast-furnace slag, in 1955. In the 80’s his company developed the technology that allowed them to make high-quality cement from blast-furnace slag, a waste product of the steel industry. Uren and his business partner John Hobbins turned this invention into a profitable business.He served as its Chairman until he sold it for GBP£245 million in 2006 to the Hanson Group.
As of 2015, he was worth an estimated GBP£170 million.
Philanthropy
Uren served as the chairman of the Royal [London Society for the Blind].Uren donated GBP £30 million to the King Edward VII's Hospital Sister Agnes in 2013. In 2014, he also donated GBP£40 million to his alma mater, Imperial College London, to fund the creation of the College's new "Bio-Medical Engineering Research Centre" in White City, London, which he envisioned as becoming a cornerstone for "a new Silicon Valley" of biotechnology.