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Ernest E. Tschannen, the longtime Sacramento philanthropist whose multimillion-dollar gifts helped transform Sacramento State and other institutions across the region, has died, the university announced Monday. He was 101.
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His death came just weeks after Sacramento State unveiled plans for a nearly $150 million engineering building that will bear his name, the latest in a series of major gifts Tschannen made to the university over more than a decade.
Tschannen committed $15 million toward the Ernest E. Tschannen Engineering Teaching and Research Building, which is planned to replace the 66-year-old Santa Clara Hall. The gift followed an earlier $10 million commitment he made toward the project, according to previous Bee reporting.
“Sacramento State has lost one of its most extraordinary friends and supporters,” university President Luke Wood said in a statement. “Ernest Tschannen came to this country with very little, built a life here, and then spent decades giving back to the community that gave so much to him.”
Tschannen had already left a prominent mark on the campus through the Ernest E. Tschannen Science Complex, which opened in 2019. The nearly 97,000-square-foot complex, which includes biology and chemistry laboratories, a planetarium and an observatory, was built with the help of a $9 million donation from Tschannen, The Bee previously reported.
“His generosity transformed our campus and the lives of generations of students,” Wood said. “The Tschannen Science Complex reflects his belief that science should be visible and shared. His $15 million commitment to our new engineering building will do the same for the next generation of Hornets.”
Tschannen’s relationship with Sacramento State stretched back at least to 2015, when he surprised university officials with a $750,000 donation toward a proposed events center. At the time, Tschannen told The Bee that he had little interest in team sports but had been impressed by the university after visiting the campus.
“I don’t make money for myself,” Tschannen told The Bee in that 2015 interview. “I work to help other people, with donations, for good causes.”
Tschannen also was a major benefactor of UC Davis. Previous Bee reporting said he had donated $38.5 million to the university over several years after undergoing eye surgery there in 2000. His support eventually helped fund the Ernest E. Tschannen Eye Institute.
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He also supported outdoor causes, including the Tahoe-Pyramid Bikeway and the American River Parkway Foundation, reflecting a lifelong enthusiasm for cycling, hiking and kayaking, according to previous Bee reporting.
Born Feb. 16, 1925, in Aarwangen, Switzerland, Tschannen came to the United States and began his career as a mechanical engineer before making his fortune through real estate investments. In 2015, he told The Bee that he owned about 3,500 apartment units and estimated his net worth at $75 million.
Despite his wealth, Tschannen lived modestly. During a 2015 visit to his Orangevale-area home, The Bee found bicycles and kayaks alongside an overgrown garden of cactus, fruit trees and other plants. Tschannen, then 90, said that after he could no longer drive, he continued to walk about an hour each day and still kayaked.
“When I pass away, I want my money to stay in this country, because this is where I earned it,” Tschannen told The Bee in 2015.
Sacramento recognized Tschannen’s philanthropy in 2016, when then-mayor Kevin Johnson declared Feb. 16 Ernest E. Tschannen Day.
“On behalf of the entire Sacramento State community, I want to thank Ernest for believing in this university and in the students who will walk through the doors of the buildings that bear his name for decades to come,” Wood said.
Sacramento State said details of a campus celebration of Tschannen’s life would be announced in the coming weeks.
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