Peter Kiewit Foundation

Video: Peter Kiewit Foundation

Peter Kiewit was a native of Omaha and, with the exception of one year in college, lived his entire life in Omaha. He began working for his father’s construction company after school in 1914, when he was 14 years old. Under his continuing leadership, the company thrived and was one of the largest employee-owned businesses in the United States at the time of his death in 1979.

Kiewit was a philanthropist and community leader for a wide array of projects in Omaha during his lifetime. He did not believe in inherited wealth, and made plans for his personal estate to become a private charitable foundation upon his death.

In 1980, the Peter Kiewit Foundation was created entirely from his personal wealth. It is not related legally or administratively to the operating companies that still bear Kiewit’s name.

In its largest gift ever to the University of Nebraska, the Peter Kiewit Foundation awarded a $17.5 million grant to partially fund construction of the Durham Research Center on the UNMC campus. In recognition of this gift, the Peter Kiewit Foundation Transplant Biology Research Laboratories have been established on the seventh and eighth floors of the Durham Research Center.

A statement from the trustees of the Peter Kiewit Foundation reads:
"One of Peter Kiewit’s directives to us, as his trustees, was to reinvest in what’s good for Nebraska. He loved his hometown, Omaha, and the people of Nebraska. We believe that the capacity this new research center creates at UNMC will make it a national, even international pacesetter, bring great opportunities to our region of the country and provide the finest medical care available to our citizens."

The Foundation has a long tradition of investing in projects that will benefit all Nebraskans and advance the state’s economy. It has donated more than $400 million statewide since its inception and of that total, nearly $44 million has been contributed to the University of Nebraska Foundation for projects on all four campuses.

In 1996, the Peter Kiewit Foundation funded a $15 million grant for a state-of-the-art facility to create what is now called The Peter Kiewit Institute of Information Science, Technology and Engineering on the University of Nebraska at Omaha campus.