$40-Million Committed for Scholarships; Other Gifts

Five institutions have received large gifts:

• Mignon C. Smith has given $10-million to establish an organization to provide college scholarships to Alabama students who have a record of community service. The scholarship program will be housed at the J. Craig and Page T. Smith Scholarship Foundation, in Birmingham, Ala. In addition, Ms. Smith, who lives in Washington, D.C., and Birmingham, has created a $30-million charitable remainder trust to support the foundation. Ms. Smith’s father, J. Craig Smith, was chief executive officer of Avondale Mills, a textile company that has operations in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina.
• Phillips Exeter Academy, in Exeter, N.H., has received a $25-million pledge from an anonymous donor to endow four professorships for outstanding veteran faculty members, six professorships for mid-career faculty members, and three positions for instructors at the early stages of their careers. The gift will also support professional-development opportunities for faculty and staff members.
• Duke University, in Durham, N.C., has received a $23.5-million pledge from Bill and Sue Gross to endow scholarships for undergraduate and medical students and to support faculty members at the Fuqua School of Business. Mr. Gross, a 1966 graduate of Duke, is the co-founder and chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Company, a bond-management firm in Newport Beach, Calif.
• Harvey and Phyllis Sandler, of Boca Raton, Fla., have pledged $20-million to the Boca Raton Community Hospital for its capital campaign for a new cancer center. Mr. Sandler is founder of Sandler Capital Management, in New York.
• Converse College, in Spartanburg, S.C., has received $15-million from Susan Phifer Johnson and George Dean Johnson Jr. for a faculty evaluation and compensation plan and for the college’s endowment. Ms. Johnson is a 1965 graduate of the college, where both she and her husband have served as trustees. Mr. Johnson is the founder of several real-estate and investment companies, and currently works as the managing general partner of American Storage Limited Partnership, a chain of storage facilities in North and South Carolina and Georgia. This is the second $15-million gift the couple has given to the college in the past seven years.

Other recent gifts:

Catholic Relief Services (Baltimore): $1-million from Richard M. Scaife and his wife, Ritchie, for efforts to help victims of the tsunamis in South Asia. Mr. Scaife is chairman of Westminster Holdings and head of the Tribune Publishing Company, which publishes the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and other newspapers in western Pennsylvania.

Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation (Springfield, N.J.): $1-million from Sheila Johnson for its research programs. Ms. Johnson is co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, in Washington, and chief executive officer of Salamander Development, in Middleburg, Va.

Dawson Memorial Baptist Church (Homewood, Ala.): $1.8-million from Aletha Tente Dawson, of Homewood, for the church’s scholarship fund. Ms. Dawson, who died in 2003, inherited most of her money, which derived from Coca-Cola stock. The church was named after Ms. Dawson’s father-in-law, L.O. Dawson, a Baptist minister.

Ethel Walker School (Simsbury, Conn.): $2.5-million from Sarah Johnson Redlich, of Hillsborough, Calif., to construct and endow a riding ring and to support the school’s capital campaign. Ms. Redlich, a trustee of the school, owns Spike and Annie, a children’s-clothing manufacturer and retailer in Burlingame, Calif. The school also received a $1-million unrestricted gift from a couple who wish to remain anonymous.

Nazareth College (Rochester, N.Y.): $1.5-million bequest from Marie M. Callahan, who died in 2003, for a reading clinic and other support. Ms. Callahan, who inherited much of her money from her brother, Arthur J. Callahan, was a 1930 graduate of the college who worked as a scientist and researcher in Rochester.

Northwood U. (Midland, Mich.): $3-million from Patricia L. Naegele, of Midland, to renovate residence halls and for other projects. Ms. Naegele, who serves on the university’s Board of Trustees, is the widow of Robert Naegele, a group vice president and director of Dow Chemical Company who died in 2000.

Old Dominion U. (Norfolk, Va.): $5.4-million bequest from Elmer Virginius Williams to support research, professorships, a library, and other needs at the College of Business and Public Administration. Mr. Williams, who died in 2003, attended the university in the 1930s and later founded EV Williams, a road-construction company in Virginia.

Prairie View A&M U. (Tex.): $2.1-million bequest from Whitlowe R. Green for scholarships for students in business management, the human sciences, nursing, and the social sciences. Mr. Green was a 1936 graduate of the university and an educator in the Houston public school system.

Princeton U. (N.J.): $5.5-million from the family of Bruce R. Lauritzen, chairman of First National Bank of Omaha, to construct a dormitory. Mr. Lauritzen is a member of the Princeton class of 1965. His wife, Kimball, and mother, Elizabeth, also made the gift.

Samford U. (Birmingham, Ala.): $1.8-million from Aletha Tente Dawson, of Homewood, Ala., for student scholarships. Ms. Dawson, who died in 2003, inherited most of her money, which derived from Coca-Cola stock.

San Francisco State U.: $3-million from George and Judy Marcus, both graduates of the university, for a new arts center at its College of Creative Arts. Mr. Marcus, of Los Altos Hills, Calif., is founder and chairman of the Marcus & Millichap Company.

St. Mary’s U. (San Antonio): $1-million from an anonymous donor for the law school’s Center for Terrorism Law.

U. of Florida (Gainesville): $2-million from Charles R. Perry for a new program in carpentry, plumbing, and other trades and to expand facilities at its College of Design, Construction, and Planning. Mr. Perry is chief executive officer of Charles Perry Construction, in Gainesville.

U. of Oregon (Eugene): $2-million from Lorry I. Lokey, of Portland, Ore., for the school of music’s capital campaign. Mr. Lokey is the founder of Business Wire news service, in San Francisco.

U. of Pittsburgh: $1-million from an anonymous donor for an endowment at the school of pharmacy.

WMHT Educational Telecommunications (Schenectady, N.Y.): $1-million from Carl E. Touhey for the public-broadcasting station’s capital campaign. Mr. Touhey, a founding member of the WMHT board, is president of Orange Motor Company, in Albany, N.Y.

Yale U. (New Haven, Conn.): $4-million from Carl Knobloch for a new building at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. The gift will be used to create a center within the building that will house student and faculty lounges and a lecture hall. Mr. Knobloch, a 1951 graduate of the university, is president and chief executive officer of West Hill Investors, a privately held equity firm in Atlanta.