Buck and Aurora Wong

As extraordinary philanthropists, Buck and Aurora Wong subscribe to the ancient Chinese proverb, “If you are planning for a year, sow rice. If you are planning for a decade, plant trees. If you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.” The Wongs freely give back to the community they have called home since 1985 and they have generously supported UNLV since 1989.

Buck has served on the UNLV Foundation Board of Trustees since 2000, transitioning to Trustee Emeritus in 2018. Aurora joined the Board as a Trustee in 2019. As donors to UNLV, the Wongs have provided extensive support of the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, the Engineering Advanced Studies Building, the Hepatitis B Free Program, and the Annual Fund.

Buck founded Arcata Associates, Inc. as a defense engineering company in 1979, and established a 14-year reputation for “Superior” performance on Arcata’s Department of Defense engineering contracts. He graduated summa cum laude in Engineering from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and in the top 10% of his MBA class at Stanford Business School.

Arcata’s awards include the NASA Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year for 2008 and 2011, and the NASA Small Business Subcontractor of the Year for 2015.

Aurora practiced law, worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide, ran the office of legislative coordination for New York City’s Human Resource Administration, and was corporate Council for Arcata Associates, Inc. Buck and Aurora met in 1980 at the Democratic National Convention in New York City and were married in 1986 by their friend and Zen teacher, Tanouye Roshi, at the Chozen-Ji Buddhist Temple in Kalihi Valley, Oahu, Hawaii.