Retired architect, vineyard owner and piano player Robert Duncan Nicol, who has been deaf since birth, says he is living proof "that deaf people, indeed, can do many things."

That includes being a generous benefactor.

Nicol on Friday gave $2 million for The Silent Garden program in the Communicative Disorders and Deaf Studies department at California State University, Fresno.

The donation will help deaf and hearing-impaired children, their parents and teachers, as well as adults with hearing loss.

The gift comes two days after Fresno State received $1.5 million from Rodger and Margaret Jensen for agricultural scholarships.

The two donations help the university edge closer to its goal to raise $200 million during the largest formal effort in university history. Fresno State previously hoped to collect it all by June 30, but the flagging economy has slowed fundraising.

About $180 million has been given in the past seven years, and the university now hopes to reach its goal by the end of this year, said Fresno State spokeswoman Kathleen Schock.

Nicol, who lives in Napa, said he made the donation to Fresno State because its deaf studies program "is the best out there."

Fresno State also was on Nicol's radar because of his longtime friendship with Paul Ogden, professor emeritus for deaf studies, who also was born deaf. The concepts in Ogden's book, "The Silent Garden: Raising Your Deaf Child," provided the outline for the program.

The Silent Garden program will include the Robert Duncan Nicol endowed chair, which will bring a different expert in deaf education to the Communicative Disorders and Deaf Studies department yearly.

The program will focus on a different topic each year, such as deaf children, parenting, teaching or adult hearing loss. Free seminars and workshops will be held.

An estimated 1% of the population are deaf or hard of hearing, Ogden said, which would be more than 9,300 people in Fresno County.

Fresno State President John Welty said Nicol's gift will enable the university "to change thousands of lives forever."

Nicol has spent his life overcoming stereotypes, Welty said. "His life demonstrates that anything is possible."

In a video played before Nicol spoke to students, parents, teachers and university officials, he said he did not speak until he was 10 years old, but began learning to play the piano at age 5, discerning different notes by resting his teeth on the keyboard cover.

"I was able to understand music, and then rhythm," Nicol said. "Deaf people aren't supposed to be able to do things like that."

Nicol attended a military academy, where he played the cymbals in the school band. That didn't require hearing, he said, only "muscles and rhythm."

People also don't need hearing to fly a plane, become an award-winning architect, ski, sail or run a vineyard, as he did, Nicol said.

"Everything at the beginning is difficult," Nicol said after the video. "But you learn it eventually."

Nicol encouraged parents of deaf children to believe that nothing is impossible for their children and to have "lots of patience."

"Love them and don't be discouraged," Nicol said. "I want deaf children to have the same opportunity I did -- the opportunity to be normal."