Auburn U., Columbia Receive Big Donations; Other Gifts

Two universities received large gifts:

• Auburn University’s engineering school has received a $25-million donation from Samuel L. Ginn, an alumnus and former telecommunications executive.

  Mr. Ginn, 63, a former chairman of Vodafone AirTouch, in Newbury, England, asked that a portion of the funds be used to develop an undergraduate degree in wireless engineering. He also requested that the engineering school raise $150-million from other sources for its endowment and for 25 professorships, although his gift was not contingent upon the school raising the additional funds.

• Herbert Irving, of New York, has donated $21-million to help build a cancer center at Columbia University. The Irving Cancer Research Center, on Columbia’s medical center campus, will include laboratory space for research on cancer, genetics, and cell biology. Mr. Irving co-founded Sysco Corporation, a food distribution company in Houston.

Other large gifts:

American U. (Washington): $1.5-million from Pamela Samuelson, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, and her husband, Robert Glushko, an engineering fellow at Commerce One, a software provider in Pleasanton, Calif., to establish the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic at the law school.

Barry U. (Miami Shores, Fla.): $1-million from B. Landon Carlin to help build O’Laughlin Hall, which will house classrooms and faculty offices, in honor of Jeanne O’Laughlin, the university’s president.

Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo (N.Y.): $1-million from Dominik Hasek, a goal tender for the Buffalo Sabres hockey team, to create the Dominik Hasek Youth Sport and Scholarship Fund, an advised fund that will support inner-city children’s hockey programs.

Furman U. (Greenville, S.C.): $5-million from an anonymous donor; a $5-million pledge from an anonymous donor for international education programs, including scholarships for Furman students who study abroad; a $4.25-million pledge from Gordon Herring, of Greenville, a co-founder of the Weather Channel, and his wife, Sarah, for scholarships and the library; a $2-million pledge from an anonymous donor; a $1.3-million pledge from an anonymous donor; a $1.25-million pledge from an anonymous donor; and five pledges of $1-million each from anonymous donors.

Hampden-Sydney College (Va.): $1.3-million from Irma C. Sprinkle, of Marion, Va., former assistant to the president of Marion College, and former assistant to the dean at Emory and Henry College, in Emory, Va., to establish the Willis McCollum Sprinkle scholarship in memory of her late husband, who was a medical doctor and a graduate of Hampden-Sydney.

Hebrew Home of Greater Washington (Rockville, Md.): $1.75-million from Nathan Landow, president of Landow and Company Management, in Bethesda, Md., and former chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party, to help build an assisted-living residence.

Heritage Foundation (Washington): a building in Washington valued at $8.5-million, from the family of Thomas Johnson, co-founder of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, a law firm in Pittsburgh, and a former part-owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who died in 2000 at 85; and $2-million from Douglas Allison, of Southfield, Mich., chairman of Allison-Fisher International, an automotive industry research and marketing company, and his wife, Sarah, to build an auditorium.

Keystone College (LaPlume, Pa.): $1-million from an anonymous donor to establish a professorship for arts and sciences faculty members.

Menninger (Topeka, Kan.): $3-million unrestricted bequest from J. Watson Webb Jr., a film editor, museum director, and mental-health advocate who died in 2000 at age 84, for unrestricted use at the psychiatric hospital.

Ohio Northern U. (Ada): $3-million bequest from Erwin L. Clemens, a partner at the firm of Clemens, Korhn, Liming & Warncke, in Defiance, Ohio, who died in 1999, for the university’s law school.

Ohio State U. (Columbus): $7-million pledge from Roger Blackwell, of Upper Arlington, Ohio, a marketing professor at the university and founder of Roger Blackwell Associates, a consulting company, and his wife, Tina, for construction of a residence hall for participants in executive-education programs at the business school.

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (Washington): $1-million from Paul Peck, of McLean, Va., a computer-systems manager at the U.S. Customs Service, in Washington, and a private investor, for the Paul Peck Fund for Presidential Studies, which Mr. Peck created in 2000 with a gift of $2-million.

Southwestern Medical Foundation (Dallas): $1-million from Boone Pickens, founder of the Mesa Petroleum Corporation, an oil and gas company in Amarillo, Tex., and his wife, Nelda, for research on heart disease at the University of TexasSouthwestern’s medical center.

Union Memorial Hospital (Baltimore): $2.5-million gift from a trust established by Pauline Mergenthaler, who died in 1986 at age 91, and whose father invented the Linotype printing machine, for renovations.

United States Naval Academy Foundation (Annapolis, Md.): $4.6-million pledge from James Kinnear, a graduate of the academy and former president of Texaco, and his wife, Mary, to establish a professorship in the physical sciences and to supplement the Kinnear Fellows Program, which the couple established in 1996.

U. of Denver: $1.2-million from the family of William H. McElwain, of Boulder, Colo., a former managing partner of the Boulder Oil Company, who died last year at age 72, to create a scholarship fund.

U. of Texas at Austin: $15-million from John A. Jackson, of Dallas, a retired oilman, to help expand a building that houses the geological sciences department, which will be named for Mr. Jackson and his late wife, Katherine; and a $5-million pledge from Jeff Kodosky, co-founder of National Instruments, in Austin, and his wife, Gail, for the UTeach program, which helps students attain teacher certification in math and science.

U. of TexasSouthwestern (Dallas): $1-million from Jan Bullock, of Austin, Tex., to create the Jan and Bob Bullock Distinguished Chair for Science Education. The donated funds were from the campaign fund of Mrs. Bullock’s late husband, Bob, who served as lieutenant governor, comptroller, and secretary of state of Texas, and as a member of the Texas House of Representatives.

U. of Wisconsin at Washington County (West Bend): $1.1-million bequest from Adele S. Collins, of West Bend, Wis., who died in 2000 at age 92, and her husband, Curtis, a former president of First National Bank of West Bend, now M&I First National Bank, who died in 1990 at the age of 83, to establish a bachelor’s degree program in nursing.