Gifts Roundup: KIND Founder Pledges $25 Million to Launch Food-Policy Group

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by The Chronicle:

University of Dubuque

The university will receive $60 million from the estate of Edward Babka, a specialty publisher and longtime trustee of the Iowa institution.

The donation, $37 million of which has been paid since Mr. Babka died in June at age 88, will support the Ed and Shirley Babka Scholarship Fund and bolster the university’s endowment.

Mr. Babka founded Antique Trader, a magazine catering to antiques buyers and collectors. He served for 43 years on the university’s Board of Trustees, and he and his wife, Shirley, are longtime donors, helping fund the campus’s bookstore, theater, and numerous academic and residential buildings.

Feed the Truth

KIND Snacks founder and CEO Daniel Lubetzky committed $25 million to create a public-health organization that aims to promote transparency in food systems and counter the food industry’s influence in shaping nutrition policy.

Mr. Lubetzky has already given $5 million through his donor-advised fund and will donate the remaining $20 million over the next 10 years.

He said Feed the Truth will be independent of KIND and he will not be involved in its activities or governance beyond the initial step of asking three unaffiliated public health advocates to nominate members for the nonprofit’s Board of Directors.

Cornell College

Endocrinologist and Cornell alumna Jean Russell pledged $20 million to help build the Iowa liberal-arts institution’s first new academic building in 40 years.

The four-story science facility will house chemistry and biology classrooms and labs as well as office and research space. Construction is slated to begin in 2019 as part of a $35 million campus project that also includes renovating an existing science building.

Ms. Russell earned a degree in biology from Cornell College in 1965. She retired as a professor of endocrinology at Washington University in St. Louis in 1993.

Texas A&M University

The university will rename its Institute for Advanced Study for Jon Hagler in honor of the alumnus and investment executive’s $20 million gift. The donation will provide endowment funding for the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study, which brings leading academics to the campus through a fellowship program.

Mr. Hagler earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Texas A&M in 1958. He went on to found two investment firms and did a stint as the Ford Foundation’s chief investment officer before joining investment manager Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Company as a partner.

West Virginia University

Bob and Laura Reynolds donated $10 million to the College of Business and Economics. The gift will provide initial funding for a building, to be named for the donors, at a new business-school complex.

Mr. Reynolds, who earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from West Virginia in 1974, is president of Putnam Investments, Great-West Financial, and Great-West Lifeco U.S. He is a member of the university’s Board of Directors and co-chairman of its current fundraising campaign, which had drawn just over $1 billion at the end of 2016.

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford

The hospital received $10 million from billionaire businessman David Koch and his wife, Julia, to establish a new clinical-research unit within the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University.

Mr. Koch is executive vice president of Koch Industries, an industrial conglomerate, and a major donor to medical research as well as cultural institutions and conservative causes.

Arizona State University

Barbara Barrett, a former U.S. ambassador to Finland, and her husband, Craig, gave $3 million to endow the O’Connor Justice Prize, which is administered by the university’s law school.

The prize, inaugurated in 2014 and named for former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, is presented to leaders who advocate for the rule of law. The most recent honoree is former President Jimmy Carter.

Ms. Barrett earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Arizona State and was subsequently encouraged by Ms. O’Connor, then the majority leader of the Arizona State Senate, to pursue a law degree. Mr. Barrett is a former chief executive of Intel. The couple previously gave the university $10 million for its honors college.

University of California at Davis

Mohini Jain gave $1.5 million to promote the study of Jainism, an ancient Indian philosophy and religion. The gift will establish a chair in Jainism studies in the Department of Religious Studies.

Ms. Jain, a retired high-school science teacher, worked at UC-Davis as a research scientist in the 1980s. She has made several donations to the university and created a fund there to honor her late husband, Anil Jain, who was a faculty member in the electrical and computer engineering department in the 1980s.

Habitat for Humanity

The nonprofit received $1 million from Ann and Ted Dosch to build safe and affordable homes.

The money will be split between Habitat for Humanity International’s Global Impact Fund and Chicagoland Habitat for Humanity, where it will be used to support leadership development and other programs.

Mr. Dosch is executive vice president for finance at Anixter International, a distributor of communication and security products. He has served on the boards of both Habitat International and the Chicago chapter, and he and his wife have helped build Habitat homes on five continents.

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