Professor’s passion a four-decade affair

Dr. Ed Dauer, the largest donating alumni.
Dr. Ed Dauer, the largest donating alumni.
Courtesy of Dr. Edward Dauer

Dr. Edward Dauer bleeds orange and green.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1972 and his medical degree in 1975 from the University of Miami.

Currently, Dauer teaches in the UM Engineering School and is on the Board of Trustees, something he has done for almost two decades.

His passion for the “U” is even more apparent through his philanthropy. He has given, along with his wife, Joanne, over $8 million to the school.

“My first donation to UM was probably to start a scholarship at the medical school,” said Dauer. “You owe your success in life to your degrees from UM, so you have to help other students”

Dauer counts the school’s libraries, nursing program, medical school, athletic department and engineering program among the beneficiaries of his philanthropy.

“Eddie and Joanne are great supporters of the university in any way that you can think of,” Sergio Gonzalez, the senior vice president for advancement and external affairs, said. “He seems to be looking to benefit the university in every part of his life.”

Dauer’s contributions resulted in the street outside the BankUnited Center being name after him, Dauer Drive.

“The donation is from the heart. You don’t donate for the recognition. I really like doing scholarship aid for students because I know how expensive it is to go here,” Dauer said. He was a freshman in 1968, when tuition cost $825 a semester.

The school has set up a student loan fund in his name at the Miller School of Medicine, and his name graces classrooms and laboratories throughout the College of Engineering, something that continues to please — but not surprise — Dr. Ozcan Ozdamar, professor and chairman of the Biomedical Engineering Program.

“He’s been in almost every position in the university, so he’s very prone to giving back,” Ozdamar said. “The thing I like the most about Eddie is that he’s always trying to advance everything.”

Dauer is no stranger to rapid progress as he started school in the Miller School of Medicine during his senior year.

“I applied for med school after my junior year,” he said. “I was in electrical engineering and needed senior courses, so I registered 15 credits as a senior at the same time I started med school in the fall.”

After graduating medical school, Dauer went on to conduct his radiology residency at New York’s Mount Sinai Medical Center and his fellowship at UCLA. He then moved back to the Miami area to work at the Florida Medical Center in Ft. Lauderdale, where he remains the director of radiology.

Still not satisfied with his education, Dauer returned to UM in 1997—already entrenched on the Board of Trustees at the time—in search of a Master’s degree in biomedical engineering.

While in school then, he oversaw people as a trustee and was overseen by professors in the classroom at the same time.

“I had him in my class, and at the same time he was kind of my boss,” Ozdamar said. “Eddie always wants to advance himself and this institution. He’s a great person.”

In addition to his work as a UM professor and practicing radiologist, Dr. Dauer also dabbles in over a dozen hobbies, and is proud of his large collections of international currency and antique cars. Books have been written about his currency collection.

“My first car was a 1941 Cadillac, which I bought in 1972,” Dauer said. “In 1973 I picked up Joanne in it on our first date.”

And after 40 years with the school in almost every possible capacity, nobody likes the University of Miami more than Dr. Dauer.

“I give what I can, and I always tell people not to do things because people say it’s a good investment,” he said. “Do it because you like it.”