Iowa Businessman Bequeaths $25-Million to Health Foundation; Other Donations

The Iowa Health Foundation, in Des Moines, will receive a bequest estimated at $25-million from John Stoddard, a Des Moines real-estate developer and investor.

Mr. Stoddard, who died in June, designated roughly $20-million to the Iowa Methodist Medical Center’s Stoddard Cancer Center, which he helped create with a $4-million gift in 1990. The Iowa Health Foundation, the fund-raising arm of the medical center and of Lutheran Hospital and Blank Children’s Hospital, will also receive approximately $5-million for unrestricted use.

Other recent gifts:

Arkansas State U.: $5,000,000 from Wallace Fowler of Jonesboro, Ark., and his wife, Jama, owners of Fowler Foods, to construct a performing-arts center.

Kuakini Health System (Hawaii): $2,000,000 from Akio Morita of Nagoya, Japan, co-founder of the Sony Corporation, and his wife, Yoshiko, for digital diagnostic equipment and to upgrade the ultrasound system at the Kuakini Medical Center.

Marymount U. (Va.): $1,500,000 from an anonymous donor to help expand and renovate the student center.

Northeast Mississippi Community College: $1,037,833 bequest from the estate of Audrey Brasfield Haney of Tupelo, Miss., whose first husband, H. K. Brasfield, founded Brasfield Jewelers, for scholarships.

Seattle Public Schools: $1,200,000 from Craig McCaw of Seattle, founder of Cellular One, to expand “Team Read,” a literacy program in which high-school students tutor youngsters, to a total of 10 elementary schools.

Skidmore College (N.Y.): $2,000,000 from Harry Quadracci of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., president of Quad/Graphics, his wife, Betty, and their children, to endow a professorship in social responsibility.

Southeast Missouri State U.: $1,000,000 from Otto Seabaugh of Cape Girardeau, Mo., retired assistant to the president of the Winchester Western Cartridges division of the Olin Corporation, and his wife, Della, for a new industrial-technology building.

U. of California at San Diego: $5,000,000 from Peter Preuss of La Jolla, Cal., former chairman of Integrated Software Systems, his wife, Peggy, and their family, to establish a charter school in San Diego that will enroll disadvantaged students in grades six through 12.

U. of Chicago: $2,500,000 from Richard Franke of Chicago, retired chairman of John Nuveen & Company, and his wife, Barbara, to endow the humanities institute.

U. of Georgia: $1,000,000 from Elkin Goddard Alston of Atlanta, widow of Philip Alston, former U.S. Ambassador to Australia, to establish a professorship at the Institute of Higher Education.

U. of South Alabama: $1,100,000 from Mayer Mitchell of Mobile, Ala., and his brother, Abraham, real-estate developers and investors, to help construct a sports arena. U. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas: $1,000,000 from Nancy Hamon of Dallas, a movie actress, philanthropist, and widow of the businessman Jake Hamon, to expand the Center for Breast Care.

Vincennes U. (Ind.): $2,700,000 bequest from the estates of Carl H. Grabbe of Vincennes, Ind., and his wife, Kathryn, both of whom owned and operated the automobile-parts company Wabash Parts, for scholarships for students from Knox County, Ind.

Wake Forest U. (N.C.): $2,600,000 bequest from the estate of Thomas (Jack) Lynch of Winston-Salem, N.C., an investor and apartment-complex manager, to augment an endowment that he established in 1985 for the philosophy department.

Washington U. (Mo.): $1,500,000 from E. Desmond Lee of St. Louis, former president of Lee/Rowan Manufacturing Company, a closet-accessories company, for a professorship in the arts designed to strengthen ties between the university and cultural institutions in St. Louis.

Wittenberg U. (Ohio): $1,500,000 from an anonymous donor to establish a professorship in history.