Digital rendering of the University of Houston Law Center's new building. (Courtesy photo)

The John M. O'Quinn Foundation has given more than $16 million to the University of Houston to help fund construction of a new $90 million building for the University of Houston Law Center, which will be named the John M. O'Quinn Law Building.

O'Quinn, a successful trial lawyer in Houston who graduated from the law school, died in a car accident 10 years ago in Houston but left his estate to his foundation.

Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center, said the $16 million donation is the largest gift in the law school's history.

"We are very, very pleased. More than pleased. It's exciting," he said about the donation.

"Even 10 years after his death, he still is giving to those things that he really cared about and were important to him—and education was very important. He knew it was transformational," Baynes added.

A "significant portion" of the donation supports the naming of the new building, the dean said. Construction is expected to begin next summer.

The law center building won't be the only location on the UH campus to bear O'Quinn's name. There's also the O'Quinn Law Library, John M. O'Quinn Field at TDECU Stadium and the O'Quinn Great Hall at the UH Alumni Center. In 2018, the foundation also gave $3.5 million to the new UH College of Medicine for scholarships and startup costs.

The new UH Law Center, which will replace a 50-year-old building that's more than half underground and flood-prone, got a jump-start when the University of Houston System's Board of Regents approved $78 million to fund the construction.

Rob Wilson III, president of The John M. O'Quinn Foundation, could not immediately be reached for comment. But in a press release, he said O'Quinn would be proud to know his name is on the building housing his law school.

"I know he is smiling from above today," Wilson wrote.