Buck Institute for Research on Aging

The Buck Foundation Trust was created by Beryl Hamilton Buck after the death in 1953 of her husband, pathologist Leonard W. Buck. Leonard's father, Frank Buck, was one of the founders of Belridge Oil. When Beryl Buck died in 1975, the bulk of the estate became part of the San Francisco Foundation, about $7.6 million dedicated to "charitable purposes in Marin County" including, "extending help to the problems of aging." The Belridge Oil stock in the trust was bought in 1979 by Shell Oil for $253 million, increasing the trust's value substantially.

Attempts by the San Francisco Foundation to use the cy pres doctrine to spend outside of Marin County resulted in litigation which the SF Foundation lost. As part of a 1986 court settlement, the Marin Community Foundation was established to administer the trust, valued in 2013 at approximately $1 billion. The settlement required that 80% of the trust's annual earnings be distributed to causes specific to Marin County. The remaining 20% is to be distributed among three Marin County organizations:

The Buck Institute for Research on Aging

The Buck Institute for Education

Alcohol Justice, formerly named The Marin Institute, which deals with alcohol-related problems.

In 2016, the institute began talks with the Gladstone Institutes, a San Francisco-based foundation, regarding a possible research alliance or merger. That discussion ended in October 2016.

In December 2022, the institute hosted The Longevity Summit, a two-day conference on ageing, the emerging new biotech companies in the field, and their innovations.

Facilities

The institute is on a 488-acre (1.97 km2; 0.76 sq mi) site located in the foothills of Mount Burdell, north of Novato, California. Of this, a 238-acre (0.96 km2; 0.37 sq mi) portion is dedicated to permanent agricultural use; another 70-acre (0.28 km2; 0.11 sq mi) portion is open public space.

I. M. Pei, who responded in 1989 to a request to submit a proposal to design the research facility, was selected as the architect for the institute's facility. Pei's master plan called for 355,000 square feet (33,000 m2) of laboratory and facility space. The multi-stage plan calls for five interlocking buildings (four laboratory buildings and a support building) around a one-acre hexagonal courtyard, designed to provide a green oasis for quiet contemplation and outdoor activities. Pei used varied geometric elements and floating staircases, which appear throughout both the administrative and research buildings. The second of four research buildings approved in the master plan was completed in 2012.

As of 2016, the institute had more than $80 million in bond debt from building its Novato headquarters in 1999 and completing its third building in 2012. It was leasing 27,000 sq ft of its campus to for-profit businesses, including BioMarin, Ultragenyx, Cellular Dynamics, An2H Discovery Limited, and Excel Venture Management.

Research

The Buck Institute's research program has ten focus areas related to geriatrics and longevity. The institute had about 250 staff members as of 2017.