Donor Stories

Richard Souviron didn’t spend much time on Miami’s campus during his days as an undergraduate.

It was just one semester, during the summer actually.

But it was enough for him to realize just how special a place the University of Miami was and it added another chapter to what Souviron now calls a “lifelong affair” with the school.

“As far as our family is concerned,” he said, “we have a big heart for the University.”

Souviron, who grew up in South Florida and remembers attending Hurricanes games at the Orange Bowl during his high school days, went on to earn his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Emory University in Atlanta.

But it didn’t take long after he returned to South Florida to open his dental practice that Souviron, once again, found himself back on Miami’s campus – often at the corner of Ponce de Leon Boulevard and San Amaro Drive.

There, he’d take in as many Hurricanes baseball games as he could, thanks in large part to the legendary coach who built the program into a national powerhouse: the late Ron Fraser.

“I can remember I was so impressed with him when, in the early 1960s, he was pushing the University of Miami baseball team,” Souviron said. “Like, you couldn’t believe it. He went to the Chamber of Commerce. He went to the Junior Chamber. I thought, ‘Man, this guy really loves the University’ and that was very impressive for me. … He was a huge, huge booster of college baseball.”

Today, Fraser’s impact is still felt in Coral Gables, and beyond.

And so is Souviron’s.

The longtime Coral Gables resident and his family have supported the University in a myriad of ways, from cheering for the Hurricanes football, basketball, baseball teams and more to championing long-term excellence within Miami athletics.

The Souvirons recently made a gift to the athletic department’s Victory Fund and have committed to a planned gift that will establish the Souviron Family Athletic Director Endowment, an endowment the family hopes will make a difference in the lives of Hurricanes student-athletes and coaches for years to come and will allow Miami’s athletic director to support strategic priorities and key initiatives across the department.

It’s a commitment Souviron said he and his family felt compelled to make, given all the University has meant to him, his wife, Barbara, and their son, Grant, who has earned two master’s degrees from Miami.

“Miami is very impressive and one of the ways that you can express your gratitude is, if you’re capable, financially,” Souviron said. “You look at the philanthropy of some of these people who have given so much to the University of Miami and they don’t do it for no reason. They do it because they know it’s going to be well spent and it’s going to do good.

“That’s the bottom line with philanthropy, to do good. With us, with our family, that’s why we’ve made the arrangements we have. … I’ve given to Emory University … and now I’m going to concentrate on doing it for the University of Miami, to provide within my ability funds for students that need it. … I feel what the University has done for the community, particularly in Coral Gables, is worthy of my philanthropic efforts.”

Souviron’s support of the University – and the South Florida community as a whole – isn’t merely limited to cheering for the Hurricanes on Saturdays or the financial gifts he and his family have made.

An expert in forensic odontology and bite mark technology who has worked on a number of high-profile cases including serving as an expert witness in Ted Bundy’s 1979 murder trial and helping identify the victims of the 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592 in the Florida Everglades, Souviron formerly has lectured in the pathology department at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

There, he had the opportunity to share some of his expertise with a new generation of forensic dentists and doctors who can be tasked with some difficult and gruesome work.

It’s work, though, that is essential and can make a profound difference said Souviron, who is also the Chief of Forensic Odontolgy for the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s office.

“Certain people just want to do this kind of work. They feel like it’s their way of giving back to the community, plus, in their opinion, they’re doing a service for the families,” Souviron said. “It’s also challenging, intellectually. You have to figure out a lot of stuff. How do we make an ID on this person with what we have? How do we sign off as a positive [identification] so the funeral home can go ahead and process the case for the family? There’s a challenge to it. … My responsibility is to see that we have that covered. We’ve done a lot of cases, some very interesting, some that have gone to trial and others that have just been for the families. … It’s an area that I’ve gotten involved in that has proven to be, I think, a real public service.”

In his career, Souviron has also done a rather different kind of dental work: providing pro bono services for some of the very large, very furry residents at Zoo Miami including chimpanzees, a lowlands gorilla, an African lioness and a white Bengal tiger, among others.

There’s no question his career and his life in South Florida has had their share of interesting moments, and Souviron believes that the University of Miami and the Hurricanes have always been a part of that – even if he was a student there for just the briefest of windows.

His hope is that with his and his family’s support, Miami’s athletic department will continue moving forward and inspiring the community – much the way it once inspired him.

“Before there was any other university here, it was the University of Miami,” Souviron said. “I remember going to University of Miami games at the Orange Bowl and you sang the songs and pretended you were a student, even if you were just in high school. I really enjoyed that. … Everything was the University of Miami. My cousin graduated from the University of Miami. My mother ended up working at the University of Miami library … I went there. I went to all the games. I went to Ron Fraser’s baseball stuff. My kid went to his camp.

“I mean, we’re committed to the University of Miami, period.”