U. of Chicago Receives $50 Million Bequest From Investor

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

University of Chicago

Arley Cathey left $50 million — the bulk of his estate — to support a range of efforts including educational access and financial aid programs, undergraduate research projects, international programs for students, and research collaborations sponsored by faculty members.

During his lifetime, Cathey owned businesses in butane gas, appliances, and furniture. He also owned commercial real estate. He eventually sold most of his holdings and then poured the profits into the stock market. He built his fortune by managing his own investment portfolio. Cathey earned a bachelor of philosophy degree from the university in 1950. He died in 2020 at 93.

University of Denver

James Kennedy gave $26 million, which university officials have used to buy land on which the university has established the James C. Kennedy Mountain Campus. The new campus will host a variety of programs, including activities for undergraduate and graduate students; and faculty-led research projects for students interested in sustainability, the environmental sciences, geography, ethics, DEI, sports studies, and kinesiology.

University officials used about $11 million of the gift to purchase Magic Sky Ranch from the Girl Scouts of Colorado, which had owned the ranch since the 1960s and used it as a summer camp. The remainder of the gift is going toward operations, programming, and the renovation of the site’s buildings and infrastructure.

Kennedy is a billionaire heir to the Cox family fortune. He serves as chairman of Cox Enterprises, a media corporation that grew from a newspaper publishing business founded by his grandfather James Cox in 1898. James Cox was the 46th and 48th governor of Ohio.

Kennedy earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Denver in 1970 and entered the family business soon after. He joined Cox Newspapers, where he worked as a production assistant and moved up to reporter, copy editor, advertising salesman, business manager, and executive vice president and general manager.

University of Arizona

William and Carolyn Franke pledged $25 million to back programs in the honors college, which will be renamed the W.A. Franke Honors College.

The gift will provide students with scholarships, stipends to defray the cost of living, and aid to help them participate in study-abroad leadership programs. It will also go toward establishing an endowed chair for the college’s dean and a new honors faculty academy.

William Franke co-founded is a managing partner of Indigo Partners, a private-equity firm that is focused on air transportation companies and is chairman of Frontier Airlines. He served as chairman and CEO of America West Airlines from 1993 to 2001, chairman of Tiger Aviation from 2004 to 2009, and chairman of Spirit Airlines from 2006 to 2013.

Villanova University

Charles and Barbara Widger gave $13 million to back a wide range of programs within the Charles Widger School of Law, including the expansion of its development and leadership program. The law school was named for Charles Widger when the couple gave the school $25 million in 2016.

The money will also be used to pay for a new faculty post in the John F. Scarpa Center for Entrepreneurship and Law, a new visiting professor position in intellectual property, and support of faculty research and student scholarships.

Charles Widger founded East Bay Merchant Partners, a family investment firm, and Brinker Capital Investments, in Berwyn, Pa. Earlier in his career, he served as an assistant attorney general for the Pennsylvania Department of Justice. He earned a law degree from the university in 1973.

Memorial Park Conservancy

Cyvia Wolff gave $10 million through her Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Foundation to restore and conserve Gulf Coast Prairie, a 45-acre parcel of land that will grow across the surface of a land bridge being built in the Houston park.

Wolff started the foundation with her husband, Melvyn Wolff, who died in 2017. He was chairman of Star Furniture, a retail furniture company founded by his family. The company was bought in 1997 by Berkshire Hathaway, but Melvyn Wolff stayed on as chairman.

Vanderbilt University

Justin Ishbia gave $10 million to support programs at Vanderbilt Law School, where he earned a law degree in 2004. Ishbia founded Shore Capital Partners, a private-equity firm with offices in Chicago and Nashville.

He serves on the Vanderbilt Law School Board of Advisors and gave a gift in 2015 to establish the Justin R. Ishbia Scholarship. Ishbia has been a guest lecturer at the Owen Graduate School of Management and volunteers as a career adviser.

Intermountain Healthcare Foundation

Jerry and Kathleen Grundhofer gave $7.5 million through their Jerry A. and Kathleen A. Grundhofer Family Foundation to support several efforts at Intermountain Park City Hospital, including the expansion of LiveWell services and preventive medicine. The money will also go toward financial assistance to provide preventive medical services to underserved people and efforts to recruit more physicians and clinicians.

Jerry Grundhofer retired from his position as CEO and chairman of U.S. Bancorp in Chicago. He previously served in executive positions at Firstar Corporation in Milwaukee and, earlier in his career, at Security Pacific Bank and Bank of America. Hospital officials plan to rename the Park City Specialty Clinic for the Grundhofers.

Colby College

George Petrikas left $7 million to establish the George G. Petrikas Financial Aid Fund to support students primarily from Bangor or Waterville, Me., who enroll at Colby. If there are no entering freshman from those cities in a given year, then the fund may award the aid to Maine students who are graduates of high schools in Kennebec, Penobscot, or Somerset counties. If there are still no students who are eligible, financial aid will then open to graduates of any Maine high school.

Petrikas, who died in 2019 at 85, graduated from Colby in 1956 with a bachelor’s degree in history. He grew up in Maine and served in the U.S. Army in the 1950s. He spent the bulk of his career running his family’s restaurants, including the Atlantic Sea Grill in Bangor and Park’s Diner, a 24-hour restaurant housed inside a railroad car that was a popular spot for Colby students and other Waterville residents.

To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.