Billionaire Yacht Maker Gives $50 Million for Dementia Research and Care (Gifts Roundup)

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

Arizona State University

J. Orin and Charlene Edson gave $50 million to back multidisciplinary research programs on dementia and to expand education and training for nurses and caregivers.

Half of the gift will go to the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, which will be named for the Edsons, and will create the Grace Center for Innovation in Nursing Education. The other $25 million will support the Biodesign Institute and establish the Charlene and J. Orin Edson Initiative for Dementia Care and Solutions.

J. Orin Edson is a billionaire who started out in the 1950s selling racing boats and went on to buy the Bayliner boat brand. He manufactured affordable motorboats and eventually yachts under the Bayliner Marine Corporation name and sold the company in 1986 to Brunswick Corporation for $425 million. In 2014 he sold another yacht maker — Westport Yards — for an undisclosed sum.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Rodger and Paula Riney donated $15 million to speed up research and develop new treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Of the gift, $10 million will back Alzheimer’s disease research, and $5 million will support studies of Parkinson’s.

Rodger Riney founded the discount brokerage firm Scottrade and led the company until it was sold to TD Ameritrade in 2017 for $4 billion.

Children’s Hospital of Orange County

Investor Bill Gross, and his children Jeff and Jennifer, gave $5 million through their family foundation to expand the hospital’s Small Baby Unit, which is designed to care for infants born at less than 28-weeks’ gestation or weighing less than 1,000 grams.

Bill Gross co-founded Pacific Investment Management Company, a global investment company he left in 2014 to join Janus Henderson investment firm. He retired from Janus in March.

Merced College

Raj Kahlon donated $5 million to the community college to support its agricultural programs and to help build a 20,000-square-foot Agriculture and Industrial Technology Complex.

Kahlon, a Merced College alumnus, is a pistachio and almond farmer.

University of Arizona

Chris and Carrie Shumway gave $1.5 million through their Shumway Foundation for the new Consortium on Gender-Based Violence, an effort to fight gender-based violence. The money will support services for survivors, as well as programming and research-informed practice.

Chris Shumway founded the investment firm Shumway Capital and previously served as a senior managing director of Tiger Management.

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