UVA Lands $27 Million for Program on Constitutionalism and Democracy (Gifts Roundup)

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

University of Virginia

John Nau III gave $27.5 million through his Nau Foundation to back the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences’ recently launched Democracy Initiative and its Program on Constitutionalism and Democracy. Nau directed $2 million of the gift to the dean of Arts & Sciences to use for any purpose within the college.

Nau is chairman and CEO of Silver Eagle Distributors, a San Antonio wholesaler of beer and other beverages. He graduated from the university in 1968 with a degree in history and served as chairman of the National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a federal agency, from 2001 to 2010. Nau is a longtime donor to UVA and, including this latest donation, has given a total of at least $68.7 million to his alma mater over the years.

Wilmington College

Catherine Withrow left $13.5 million to support capital projects and scholarships. College officials plan to name the institution’s science and agriculture center the Withrow Center for Agricultural, Life and Physical Sciences.

Withrow was a retired surgical nurse. Her late husband, Andrew Withrow, graduated from the university in 1958. He taught people who were blind to walk with a cane at the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually impaired and later for Medical Personnel Corporation. Andrew died in 2009. Catherine died last year.

University of Chicago Medicine

David Jonas gave $10 million to establish the David and Etta Jonas Center for Cellular Therapy where researchers will work to develop new therapies for hard-to-treat cancers.

Jonas founded JVC Investment Partners, which invests in early-stage and middle-market health care companies, and PharMEDium Healthcare Corporation, which provides products for intravenous and epidural therapies. Etta Jonas, his wife, died in 2018.

Texas A&M Foundation

Donald and Ellie Knauss pledged $5 million to support Texas A&M University’s Veteran Resource and Support Center, which will be renamed for them. Of the total, $2.5 million will pay for renovating the center’s home; $1 million will endow maintenance of the building; $1 million will support on-campus veteran programs; and $500,000 will match donations from others to create new scholarships for veterans.

Donald Knauss formerly served as chairman and, from 2006 to 2014, as CEO of the Clorox Corporation. He served in the U.S. Marines from 1978 to 1981.

In addition, Todd and Stephanie Routh pledged $2.6 million to create an endowment to support first-generation students at Texas A&M University. Todd Routh is a real-estate developer in Austin, Tex. He earned a finance degree at the university in 1986, and Stephanie Routh earned an environmental-design degree there in 1993.

National Public Radio

Eric and Wendy Schmidt gave $4.7 million through their Schmidt Family Foundation to back the Collaborative Journalism Network. The money will be used to create two new regional newsrooms — one in California and one in the Midwest — that will connect NPR member stations in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, with the aim of increasing local coverage across those states, especially in underserved areas.

Eric Schmidt is a former CEO of Google and was executive chairman of its parent company, Alphabet. Wendy Schmidt worked in marketing communications in Silicon Valley and then founded and ran an interior-design business for 16 years before turning to philanthropy.

The Schmidts are prolific donors and have appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors twice, including in 2019 when they gave away more than $1 billion.

To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated throughout the week.