Raymond L. Orbach’s career path was driven by curiosity. “All my life I have been interested in how things work,” UC Riverside’s eighth chancellor said. “Science has given me that opportunity, not only to learn, but to teach and participate in university life.”

The Southern California native earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley before starting his career in research and academia in theoretical and experimental physics. He served as chancellor at UCR from 1992 to 2002, during which enrollment grew from 8,500 to 15,500 students and over 1 million square feet of office, research, and teaching facilities were constructed, including the campus’ science library.

In recognition of his contributions to the university, UCR’s science library was named in Orbach’s honor in 2009. That year, the library’s namesake and his wife, Eva, established the Raymond L. Orbach Library Endowed Fund to Support the Sciences and Engineering to provide funding for the acquisition of digital and print resources in scientific fields including engineering, environmental sciences, chemistry, physics, mathematics, genome research, biotechnology, the agricultural sciences.

“Libraries are changing,” Orbach said of the fund. “More and more literature is emerging in electronic form, and any library must keep up with this opportunity to preserve, protect, and provide access to electronic information.”

Students and faculty at UCR have benefited from the fund through the addition of e-books, audiobooks, and specialized data sources to the science library’s collection, as well as from subscriptions to electronic resources that today’s and tomorrow’s scientists, engineers, and doctors need to prepare for their careers and engage in research.

“By extending the UCR Library’s ability to acquire these materials, the Orbachs have had a fundamental impact on the overall scientific literacy of the UCR community and the success of its STEM-related research and teaching agendas,” said Steven Mandeville-Gamble, university librarian. “The UCR Library is grateful for their foresight and commitment to the success of the sciences and engineering and the scientific literacy on this campus.”

For the benefactors, creating this fund has enabled them to not only support learning and exploration at UCR but to also celebrate the university.

“A library is a precious source of learning,” Orbach said. “I am so very proud of what UCR has accomplished for all of its libraries. Eva and I wanted to do what we could to facilitate the impact and operation of the science library.”

The library fund is just one of the ways the Orbachs have maintained close bonds to UCR. In 1999, they established the Eva S. Orbach Endowment for the First Position for Women’s Intercollegiate Tennis, a scholarship that’s supported nine student-athletes since its creation.

“We are so very proud of what UCR has achieved,” Orbach said. “It is a beacon of hope for all those wishing to pursue the fruits of an academic and social experience of the highest order. We look forward to its future pursuits and achievements.”