UConn to name research building for Weicker
With the endorsement of Gov. Ned Lamont, the University of Connecticut board of trustees voted unanimously on Wednesday to rename the Marine Sciences building at Avery Point in Groton in honor of former Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr.
Weicker, who lives in Essex — a short distance from Avery Point — is a former Greenwich first selectman, U.S. congressman and senator and then governor, serving from 1991 to 1995.
He is perhaps best known for establishing a state income tax amid intense criticism. For that, he received a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
Lamont said Weicker is a champion for marine science, biology and Avery Point.
“It means a lot,” Lamont said. “Let’s face it, I know he is one cantankerous son of a gun but he’s also made some tough choices along the way and, personally speaking, I think the state is better for it.”
UConn Board Chairman Dan Toscano, recalling Weicker as a great scuba diver in his younger days, called it an appropriate tribute.
Board member Andrea Dennis-Lavigne called the marine science center a beautiful building. The campus is home to a research vessel named for the former governor.
Weicker helped to establish UConn as a national Sea Grant institution and a national Undersea Research Center. As governor, he helped secure a $50 million grant for the Avery Point Marine Sciences building that will now bear his name.
“His proud legacy of public service in Connecticut and the nation, as well as his courage in the face of major challenges on behalf of his state and his constituents, is such that the University of Connecticut should name a major facility in his honor,” UConn President Thomas C. Katsouleas said in his resolution.
A naming ceremony will be held sometime this fall.