$10 Million Gift to Boost Economic Opportunities for Chicagoans Harmed by Discrimination

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy

Margot and Thomas Pritzker gave $10 million through the Margot L. Pritzker Fund to expand the work of the Inclusive Economy Lab and support research on how to improve economic opportunities for Chicago residents who live in areas that have been harmed by discrimination, segregation, and lack of investment.

Margot Pritzker founded WomenOnCall, a skills-based volunteer match organization that merged with the nonprofit Chicago Cares in 2018. She earned an M.A. degree from the university.

Thomas Pritzker is a billionaire heir to the Pritzker family fortune and the chairman and chief executive of the Pritzker Organization, which manages the family’s business assets. He serves as executive chairman of the family’s Hyatt Hotels Corporation. He earned a J.D. and an M.B.A. from the university.

Gross Pointe War Memorial Association

Fred Alger gave $8 million to support arts, culture, and democracy programming within the new Fred M. Alger Center for Arts, Culture, and Humanities at the War Memorial. The center is scheduled to open next spring.

Alger founded Alger Management, a New York investment firm, in 1964. He handed leadership of the firm to his brother, David, in 1995, but returned to help rebuild the business after David and 34 other Alger Management employees died in the terrorist attacks of 9/11 (the firm was on the 93rd floor of one of the World Trade Center towers attacked in 2001).

This is Alger’s third donation to the organization: He gave $10 million in 2019 and $2 million in 2020. Both of those gifts went toward construction of the new Alger Center.

The War Memorial commemorates veterans of World War II. It is situated on the site of the Moorings, a historic mansion in Gross Pointe Farms, Mich., that was built by one of his ancestors, Russell Alger Jr., a co-founder of the Packard Motor Company and early investor in the work of the Wright Brothers.

University of Pennsylvania

Wendy and Wayne Holman donated $5 million to create the Holman Africa Initiative, which is aimed at expanding financial aid for students and increasing opportunities for faculty and students to engage in research and teaching in and about Africa.

Wendy Holman is a former investment manager who leads Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, a Miami biotechnology company the couple founded in 2015. She is a 1997 graduate of Penn’s Wharton School and was named to President Trump’s advisory council on HIV/AIDS in 2019. She worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the 2014 Ebola epidemic, and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics later developed Ebanga, a drug that treats Ebola. The company is now working on Covid-19 treatments.

Wayne Holman, a physician by training, founded Ridgeback Capital, a hedge fund that invests primarily in pharmaceutical businesses. He previously worked for a division of SAC Capital, a now-defunct hedge fund, before leaving in 2006 to start Ridgeback Capital.

Loras College

Robert Holtz left $2 million for an endowed scholarship fund he previously established and has since helped more than 60 students attend the college.

Holtz was a farmer and businessman in Greeley, Iowa, who never attended college. He founded Holtz Construction, which primarily built hog barns. Holtz died in 2020 at 89.

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Sam and Ann Mencoff gave $1 million to establish and endow the Mencoff Family Internships in Historic and Cultural Preservation Fund, which will support paid, hands-on internships for students, whether they’re interning at a preservation organization or working alongside faculty on historic and cultural preservation projects. The internships are available to students studying in any discipline.

Sam Mencoff is co-chief executive officer of the private-equity investment firm Madison Dearborn Partners in Chicago. He has served as a member of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Board of Trustees since 2008.

The Mencoffs are historic-preservation buffs who have preserved numerous historic properties in Illinois, Indiana, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Ann Mencoff serves on the board of the Preservation Society of Newport County, in Rhode Island.

University of California at Los Angeles

Jill and Timothy Harmon gave $1 million to establish an endowment for the Bruin Guardian Scholars Program, which provides financial assistance, mentoring, and social and other support for UCLA students who are or were in foster care.

Timothy Harmon retired in 2005 as president of Pacific Sunwear of California, a retail clothing company in Anaheim, Calif. The Harmons are former foster parents and longtime advocates for young people in the foster-care system. They previously created a Guardian Scholars Fund to provide emergency financial aid to foster students at Timothy Harmon’s alma mater, the State University of New York at Buffalo.

The Harmons began supporting the Bruin Guardian Scholars Program in 2010, when their daughter was a UCLA undergraduate and they were members of the UCLA Parents’ Council. They helped launch the program’s holiday-housing initiative, which opens the campus’s residence halls to former foster students who need housing during extended breaks.

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