Cleveland Clinic Receives $82-Million; Other Gifts

Six institutions have garnered big gifts:

• The Cleveland Clinic has received a $65-million pledge from an anonymous donor for construction and renovations at the Heart and Vascular Institute, as part of the clinic’s $1.25-billion capital campaign, which was announced last week. The clinic has also received a $17-million pledge from Jane and Lee Seidman, of Cleveland, to endow a chair in functional neurosurgery, create endowments for related medical research, and support building projects at the heart institute. Mr. Seidman is founder and president of the Motorcars Group.

• Spectrum Health, in Grand Rapids, Mich., has received a $50-million donation from the children of Richard DeVos, co-founder of the Amway Corporation, in Ada, Mich., and his wife, Helen, for a new building for the DeVos Children’s Hospital. The DeVos children, along with their spouses, each gave $12.5-million. Dick DeVos is president of the Windquest Group, in Grand Rapids, and his wife, Betsy, is chairman; Dan DeVos is the president and chief executive officer of DP Fox Ventures, and his wife, Pamella, is president of Pamella Roland, a clothing company in New York; Cheri VanderWeide is president of the Robert and Cheri VanderWeide Foundation, and her husband, Robert, is president of VW Ventures, in Grand Rapids; and Doug DeVos is co-president of Alticor, in Grand Rapids, and his wife, Maria, is vice president of their family foundation.

• Ellen Gordon, president of Tootsie Roll Industries, in Chicago, and her husband, Melvin, the company’s chairman, have given $25-million to the University of Chicago for biology, chemistry, and physics research at its new integrative-science center. Ms. Gordon serves on the university’s Visiting Committee to the Biological Sciences Division and on the advisory council of its Pritzker School of Medicine.

• The University of Toledo, in Ohio, has received a $15-million pledge from Judith and Marvin Herb, of Barrington, Ill., and their sons, Thomas and Jon, for research, scholarships, faculty development, and other projects at the College of Education. Mr. Herb is owner of several Coca-Cola bottling plants in the Midwest and Northeast. Both he and his wife are graduates of the university.

• The University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, has received a $12-million pledge from David Silfen, senior director of the Goldman Sachs Group, in New York, and his wife, Lyn. Most of the money — $10-million — will endow two professorships, and the remaining $2-million will establish an annual lecture series. Mr. Silfen is a university trustee and a 1966 graduate.

• The Memphis Zoo has received a $10-million pledge from Frederick W. Smith, founder of FedEx, and his wife, Diane, to construct a grizzly-bear exhibit. The Smiths live in Memphis.

Other recent gifts:

Auburn U. (Ala.): $1.1-million bequest from Roy Lee Farish, a former senior vice president at Camden National Bank, in Alabama, and his mother, Wilda W. Farish, to endow scholarships for students at the School of Business. Mr. Farish, a 1950 alumnus, died in 2005. His mother died in 1999.

Chapman U. (Orange, Calif.): $3-million from Marion Knott, of Newport Beach, Calif., for a new building for the College of Film and Media Arts. Ms. Knott’s family founded Knott’s Berry Farm, now an amusement park in Buena Park, Calif.

City College of New York: $1-million from Colin L. Powell, former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to expand the college’s policy-studies center. Mr. Powell is a 1958 graduate of the college.

Hope College (Holland, Mich.): $7-million from A. Paul Schaap and his wife, Carol, of Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., to expand the college’s science center. Mr. Schaap is founder and president of Lumigen, a chemical research and development company in Southfield, Mich., and a 1967 graduate of the college.

Marquette U. (Milwaukee): $5-million from Robert C. Greenheck, co-founder of Greenheck Fan Corporation, a ventilation-equipment manufacturer in Schofield, Wis., to endow a faculty chair in engineering design. Mr. Greenheck is a 1950 graduate of the university and a former chairman of its board.

Miss Hall’s School (Pittsfield, Mass.): $4-million bequest from Barbara Humes Euston, of Pittsfield, for endowment. Ms. Euston, a 1929 graduate of the boarding school, died in February.

Pacific Northwest Research Institute (Seattle): $2.25-million unrestricted bequest from William R. Klaische, of Seattle, which will be used to establish an endowment for diabetes research. Mr. Klaische died in 2004.

Ramapo College of New Jersey (Mahwah): $2.5-million from Richard Anisfield, former owner and chief executive officer of the Kurt Versen Company, in Westwood, N.J., and his wife, Millicent, for a new building for the business school, and to endow student scholarships and faculty fellowships.

Saint Xavier U. (Chicago): $1-million pledge from James McDonough, chairman and president of McDonough Associates, an engineering and architectural consulting firm in Chicago, and his wife, Jacque, for campus improvements. Mr. McDonough serves as a life member of the university’s Board of Trustees.

Stanford U. (Calif.): $3-million from Michelle R. Clayman, founder and managing partner of New Amsterdam Partners, in New York, to endow the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. Ms. Clayman earned an M.B.A. from Stanford in 1979.

U. of Michigan at Ann Arbor: $4.4-million from Penny and Roe Stamps, of Miami, for the university’s endowment and student scholarships. Ms. Stamps is co-chair of the university’s capital campaign. Her husband is founder and managing partner of Summit Partners, a venture-capital firm in Boston.

U. of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia): $2.5-million from Craig Dobbin, executive chairman of CHC Helicopter Corporation, in Richmond, Canada, to endow a professorship in the School of Medicine; and $2-million from Mitchell Blutt, founder and chief executive officer of Beta Advisors Corporation, in New York, and his wife, Margo Krody Blutt, for programs in the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Medicine, and the Wharton School. Dr. Blutt, who serves on the university’s Board of Trustees, graduated from Penn in 1978, and earned a medical degree there in 1982 and an M.B.A. in 1987.

U. of Pittsburgh: $2.5-million from Glen Johnson, a retired executive at Federated Investors, a securities brokerage firm in Pittsburgh, and his wife, LaVonne, a retired planner and project manager for Allegheny County, Pa., for the Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. The university’s cancer institute received $1-million from Thomas Usher, a retired chairman and chief executive officer of the United States Steel Corporation, and his wife, Sandra, to establish an endowment for melanoma research.

U. of the South (Sewanee, Tenn.): $6-million from an anonymous donor for additions to the science building.

— Compiled by Sun Jung Kim and Maria Di Mento