Rıza Sarıoğlu was born in 1921 in Pazar, in the northeastern city of Rize on the Black Sea. He was one of eight children. He made his way to İstanbul to study at the only medical school in Türkiye at the time, University of İstanbul’s Faculty of Medicine. After completing his military service, he became a municipal doctor in Burhaniye, Balıkesir. He had his mind set on becoming a specialist in pediatrics. One day, a colleague walked into his office with a copy of the Journal of the American Medi- cal Association that featured advertisements seek- ing doctors from around the world to work in theUnited States. He accepted one of the two offers he received and moved to Philadelphia in 1951. From there on, he studied and worked all across east coast’s leading institutions until settling in Washington D.C. as a board certified pediatrician. When he retired following a decades-long success- ful career, he began to divide his time between Massachusetts and İstanbul.

His philanthropic interest lied in giving back to his hometown and to education. Dr. Riza knew that he was lucky enough to come to the United States because of his profession and wanted others to have the same opportunity. His philan- thropic journey began when he supported the building of a school in his hometown Pazar. To further his contribution to education in Türkiye, he decided to donate his house in Rockport, Massa- chusetts to Sabancı University. Dr. Rıza has made İstanbul his permanent home since September 2010. The proceeds from the sale of the house will go to Sabancı University to provide scholarships to disadvantaged students.