how do you translate the word Patron if the word is used for a person in a university

I'm translating the Welcome Guide of my uni, Nicolaus Copernicus University. There is a "Patron" section in which Nicolaus Copernicus is introduced, I wonder how can i translate this word, I actually don't even know how to define patron here. Copernicus is a meaningful figure of this uni, but in what way should i understand the word Patron?

Given that the question, as stated, is somewhat confusing, let me first articulate my understanding of the problem. An institution named Nicolaus Copernicus University has issued a document, in English, in which Nicolaus Copernicus is referred to as the patron of the University. The OP is puzzled by that use of the word, and seeks its explanation, for the purpose of translating it into another language.

The OP is rightly puzzled by this use of the word, because it is indeed nonstandard. Normally, a patron of an institution is somebody who supports it in some significant way, typically a major donor. (Occasionally, the word can be used even if the support is largely nominal, as long as it ceremonially significant, but that use of the word still depends on the idea that the patron somehow supports the institution.) Given that Nicolaus Copernicus lived five centuries ago, he clearly cannot do anything to support a present-day institution.

What could have then been on the minds of the people who used the word patron in that document? The most reasonable hypothesis is they have been led astray by the well known phrase patron saint. Patron saints are patrons in the standard sense of that word: according to the relevant religious beliefs, they support whatever they are patron saints of. According to these beliefs, they continue to exist and exercise their support, in spite of having left their earthly lives long ago. The authors of the university's document probably wanted to encourage their audience to think of Nicolaus Copernicus as something like the patron saint of the university. They, however, couldn't have called him its patron saints because he is, obviously, not a saint. So they dropped the word saint from the phrase patron saint, and called him simply its patron. The result is, however, awkward, as a the meaning of that word requires the person in some way support the university, which Copernicus cannot do.

Nicolaus Copernicus can certainly be called a namesake of the university (as has been pointed out by Mr. Shor), but that does not by itself convey an idea of a particularly strong connection between the two.