Top Philanthropic Donors: Terrence and Kim Pegula

Terrence M. "Terry" Pegula was born March 27, 1951 and is an American businessman. Pegula founded East Resources, a natural gas drilling company, before selling the Pennsylvania, New York, and Rocky Mountain assets of the company to Royal Dutch Shell for approximately $4.7 billion. East Resources, Inc. continues to hold oil & gas assets in West Virginia.

Since his cashout, he has been known for his contributions to higher education athletics; having donated $102 million for the construction of the Pegula Ice Arena on the campus of Penn State University and $12 million for the construction of the Kerr-Pegula Sports Complex at Houghton College located in Western New York. On February 18, 2011, he bought the NHL's Buffalo Sabres (along with the Buffalo Bandits indoor Lacrosse franchise) from previous owners Tom Golisano, Larry Quinn, and Dan DiPofi for $189 million.

Pegula's purchase made an immediate positive impact, with players, fans and alumni invigorated by his investment in the team. Pegula was quoted as saying, "Starting today, the Buffalo Sabres reason for existence, will be to win a Stanley Cup." In May 2011, Pegula began negotiations on behalf of the Sabres to repurchase the Rochester Americans, which had served as the Sabres' American Hockey League affiliate from 1979 to 2008 (and had been owned by the Sabres from 1979 to 1996); the deal was completed in late June 2011. Pegula also owns a share of Black River Music Group, an independent country music label that includes among its artists Craig Morgan and Sarah Darling. In 2012 he won a bid for the development rights to the Webster Block on Buffalo's waterfront, which according to Pegula's plans will include hotel and parking space in addition to an 1,800-seat ice arena.

The Pegulas pledged $88 million to Pennsylvania State University, in State College, to build a new athletics arena, to support the university’s men’s and women’s hockey programs, and to provide scholarships to hockey players who attend the university. Mr. Pegula, 59, earned a bachelor’s degree in petroleum and natural-gas engineering from the university in 1973. Although he did not play hockey when he attended Penn State, Mr. Pegula and his wife are lifelong hockey fans, and he and his family often attend the university’s games, said Joe Battista, the university’s associate athletic director for ice-arena operations.

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