CI MED Donor, Illini Basketball Great Dave Downey Passes Away

Longtime Carle Illinois College of Medicine supporter and donor Dave Downey passed away Saturday, December 28, 2025, at the age of 84.

Downey, together with his wife Jane Hays, was among CI MED’s most generous and faithful supporters and donors. One of his final philanthropic projects was to help establish the Phyllis M. Wise Endowed Professorship in Medicine and Innovation. During her tenure as Chancellor of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Wise spearheaded the effort to establish the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the world’s first engineering-based medical college.

A native of Canton, Illinois, Downey was the first in his family to go to college. He came to the University of Illinois on a basketball scholarship in 1959 and lived in Champaign until his death. He earned two degrees at Illinois (Finance, 1963, with honors, and JD Law, 1966) while setting records for his basketball performance and selling life insurance part-time for Massachusetts Mutual.

After he was admitted to the Illinois Bar, Downey decided to continue his career as a life insurance agent. Over the next sixty years, he steadily expanded his life insurance practice and independent firm, The Downey Group, Inc. By the 1970s, he was an internationally known speaker and leader in advanced life insurance practice. In the 1980s and 1990s, he testified before Congress and regulators on some of the most important life insurance-related legislation of the late twentieth century. 

He and Hays have been active members of the Illinois and Champaign-Urbana communities. Downey was a past member of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, the Board of Directors, and Executive Committee of the University of Illinois Foundation, the University of Illinois Athletic Board, and many other boards and organizations.

Downey was a three-time team MVP for the Illini from 1961 through 1963 seasons, leading the team in scoring and rebounding all three years. As a senior in 1963, he was a first-team All-America selection by the Helms Foundation and first-team All-Big Ten pick, helping lead Illinois to the Big Ten Championship and NCAA Mideast Regional Final appearance.

Downey famously set the Illini single-game scoring record with 53 points at Indiana on Feb. 16, 1963, a record that still stands 62 years later.