Left to right, University of Miami president Julio Frenk, retired Pompano Beach attorney Robert Dooley and University of Miami law dean Patricia White attend dedication in Dooley's honor.

Retired Pompano Beach attorney Robert Dooley has given $1.1 million to the University of Miami School of Law to endow a scholarship and support faculty scholarship and innovation.

The C building, which houses the dean's and alumni offices, was dedicated in honor of the 1953 law graduate in acknowledgement of the gift.

The funds “will make a lasting difference and allow us to invest in innovative faculty work as well as provide needed scholarship support for deserving students,” said law dean Patricia D. White.

The 91-year-old attorney and real estate developer served as executive editor of The Lawyer student publication and was an editor of the Miami Law Quarterly, the precursor of the school's law review.

The Illinois native enrolled at UM as an undergraduate and took the advice of a classmate who suggested he become an attorney to “defend the world.”

Dooley, who graduated second in his law school class, practiced law and worked as an insurance and real estate broker in Illinois until moving back to South Florida in 1967. He settled in Fort Lauderdale and focused his law practice on real estate, wills and trusts, probate, workers' compensation and personal injury.

Dooley has been a member of UM's citizen's board for more than 30 years, served as a governor of the Broward County Trial Lawyers Association and was a member of the Broward County Estate Planning Council.

Speaking at the building dedication, Dooley commended the school for producing “the finest lawyers, the finest jurists, the finest professors of law and leaders of industry, business and government, not only in Florida but all over the globe.”