Rollins College Receives $93-Million; Other Gifts

Four organizations have announced large gifts or pledges:

• Rollins College, in Winter Park, Fla., has received a $93.3-million bequest from George Cornell, of Delray Beach, Fla., who graduated from the college in 1935 and served on the Board of Trustees from 1981 until his death in April 2003. Two $10-million commitments from the estate had already been announced; one will be used for a scholarship fund and the other will endow the position of president. The remainder of the gift — $73.3-million — will endow faculty chairs, scholarships, and other academic programs. Mr. Cornell’s uncle, Ezra Cornell, founded Cornell U., in Ithaca, N.Y. Approximately half the gift will be transmitted this spring and the remainder will be transferred over the next few years.
• The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has received two gifts totaling $18-million from Mary and Edwin Meader, of Kalamazoo. A $10-million gift to the University of Michigan Health System will support construction of a center on depression and related disorders. A second gift of $8-million will support construction of a new wing at the university’s Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. Mrs. Meader’s grandfather, William E. Upjohn, attended the university’s medical school and co-founded the Upjohn Company, a pharmaceutical manufacturer. Mr. Meader graduated from the university in 1933.
• The Cleveland Clinic has received a pledge of more than $10-million from Robert and William B. Risman, brothers who own Consolidated Management and Realtek Industries, two companies with headquarters in Beachwood, Ohio. The money will be used to support education and patient-care facilities and to endow a research fund.
• The Zoological Society of San Diego has received a $10-million bequest from Joan B. Kroc, wife of Ray Kroc, who founded the McDonald’s Corporation, in Oak Brook, Ill. The gift will be used for large-scale renovations. Ms. Kroc died in October 2003.

Other recent gifts:

Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.): $3-million pledge from Gordon W. Russell, of Portola Valley, Calif., a former general partner of Sequoia Capital (Menlo Park, Calif.) and a 1955 graduate of the college, to endow the new Center for the Advancement of Learning, and $1.5-million from R. Stephen Cheheyl, of Concord, Mass., retired executive vice president of business operations at Bay Networks and a 1967 graduate, to support the work of the center’s director.

Indiana U. at Bloomington: $9-million jointly from Melvin and Bren Simon, Herbert and Bui Simon, David E. and Jackie Simon, Deborah J. Simon, and Cynthia Simon Skjodt and Paul Skjodt to construct a life-sciences research and teaching facility. Melvin and Herbert Simon are co-chairmen of the Simon Property Group, in Indianapolis; David Simon serves as chief executive officer of the group.