N.Y. Medical Center to Receive $150-Million; Other Big Gifts

Three institutions have received big gifts:

• Cornell University’s medical school, in New York, will receive $150-million from two finance executives toward its $750-million capital campaign.

  Sanford I. Weill, chairman of Citigroup, and his wife, Joan, committed $100-million to the campaign.

  In addition, Maurice R. Greenberg, chairman of the American International Group, his wife, Corinne, and the Starr Foundation, in New York, which was established by the founder of American International Group, committed $50-million.

• The San Diego Symphony has received a pledge of $100-million from Irwin Jacobs, chairman of Qualcomm, a wireless company in San Diego, and his wife, Joan.

  Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs pledged that amount in a bequest. The couple will set aside $50-million of the total over the next 10 years and said that during their lifetimes they will give the symphony the interest earned on that sum.

• Dave Duffield, founder of PeopleSoft, in Pleasanton, Calif., and his wife, Cheryl, have donated $37-million to Maddie’s Fund, in Alameda, Calif., a foundation they established to support efforts to neuter pets and encourage the adoption of dogs and cats from animal shelters, and to finance veterinary-school programs focused on caring for animals in shelters.

  Their gift raised the foundation’s endowment to $240-million.

• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, has received $20-million from Desh Deshpande, a co-founder of Sycamore Networks, in Chelmsford, Mass., and his wife, Jaishree, to create the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation in the engineering school. The center will help match new companies with faculty members and students to perform practical research.

Other large donations to nonprofit groups:

Archdiocese of Boston: $10-million pledge from John A. McNeice Jr., the retired chairman of the Colonial Group, an investment company that is now called the Liberty Funds Group, and his wife, Margarete, for its capital campaign.

Coastal Bend Community Foundation (Corpus Christi, Tex.): $4-million bequest from F. Starr Pope Jr., a lawyer in Corpus Christi, to expand an unrestricted fund established by his father.

Greensboro College (N.C.): $1-million from an anonymous donor for theater scholarships.

Guilford College (Greensboro, N.C.): $1.2-million pledge from Dewey L. Trogdon Jr., of Banner Elk, N.C., chairman of Cone Mills Corporation, and his wife, Barbara, for unrestricted use.

Kansas State U. Foundation (Manhattan): $2-million pledge from Stuart and Janie Curtis, of Marco Island, Fla., owners of the Curtis Machine Company, in Dodge City, Kan., to support the industrial and manufacturing systems department and to endow a professorship in that department; and a $1-million pledge from Louie T. Marshall, of Sarasota, Fla., for professorships in engineering and human ecology.

Ohio Northern U. (Ada): $4-million from James Dicke, of New Bremen, Ohio, chairman of the Crown Equipment Corporation, and his wife, Eilleen, to help construct a new building for the business college.

U. of Alberta (Edmonton): $3-million from Allan P. Markin, chairman of Canadian Natural Resources Limited, an oil company, to help construct a new engineering building.

U. of Kansas (Lawrence): $5-million bequest from James L. Sharp, of Dodge City, Kan., a retired employee of Boeing Aircraft; of the total, $3.2-million is for unrestricted use, and $1.8-million is for scholarships. Also, a $1.5-million pledge from Lester (Dusty) Loo, of Colorado Springs, a partner in the High Valley Group, an investment company, and his wife, Katherine Haughey Loo, a consultant to charities, to remodel and expand the Spencer Museum of Art.

U. of Richmond (Va.): $5-million from a couple who wishes to remain anonymous for a professorship, a fellowship, and scholarships.

U. of Texas at El Paso: $7-million bequest from John Leslie (Les) Dodson, who owned the Mountain Pass Canning Company, in Anthony, Tex., and his wife, Harriet, for unrestricted use.

U. of Vermont (Burlington): $7.5-million from Gordon and Lulie Gund, of Princeton, N.J., who own the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team and co-own the San Jose Sharks hockey team, and their sons, Grant and Zachary, to acquire an ecological-economics institute currently run by the U. of Maryland.