His 1991 contribution of US$51 million to the University of Houston was the largest in U.S. history to a public university. He served on the University of Houston System Board of Regents from 1991 to 1994. Among many other philanthropic efforts, John and Becky Moores donated US$21 million to establish the John and Rebecca Moores Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego and over US$20 million to San Diego State University. In 1999 he was appointed Regent of the University of California by Governor Gray Davis until he resigned for unknown reasons in 2007. As UC regent, he worked to make sure Proposition 209 (passed in 1996) was implemented. In 2005, he was elected chair of the Carter Center at Emory University, succeeding Jimmy Carter. Most recently, Moores is a member of the board of trustees for the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley. The center is focused on finding solutions to address the crisis of extreme poverty and disease in the developing world.