3 N.Y. Charities to Share $80-Million Pledge for Biology Research; Other Gifts

Several organizations have received big gifts.

• An anonymous donor has pledged $80-million to three New York institutions for a collaborative program in basic biological research.

  Cornell University and its Weill Medical College, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the Rockefeller University will share facilities and staff members to conduct research in chemical biology, computational biology, and cancer biology. The joint venture is expected to cost a total of $160-million.

• Lincoln M. Knorr, who co-founded the Detroit machinery business Scott Equipment Company, has established two trusts with a value totaling $33-million to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. His gift is expected eventually to bring over $1-billion to the university.

  Mr. Knorr, who earned business and law degrees from the university, died in 1998. Under the terms of one trust, valued at $30-million, the university will receive 5 percent of the trust’s market value annually. When the payments and the bulk of the trust total $1-billion, the university will receive all the money.

  The other trust, valued at $3-million, will provide income for Mr. Knorr’s mother and brother until their deaths, at which time the university will receive the account.

  Both trusts are unrestricted. University officials expect the $30-million trust to mature in 30 to 40 years.

• Julian H. Robertson Jr., chairman of the investment company Tiger Management, in New York, and his wife, Josie, have given $24-million to establish a scholarship program for undergraduates at Duke University, in Durham, N.C., and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

  The first class of 30 students — half at Duke and half at North Carolina, Mr. Robertson’s alma mater — is expected to matriculate in 2001. They and future aid recipients will receive degrees from their respective universities, but will take classes at both and will spend a semester living on the other campus.

• Charles and Helen Dolan, founders of Cablevision Systems Corporation, in Bethpage, N.Y., have given $20-million to John Carroll University, in Cleveland. The couple met 50 years ago at a logic class at John Carroll. They made the donation to construct a science and technology center.
• Max Palevsky, director emeritus of Intel, has given $20-million to the University of Chicago to build a new residential commons for students. Mr. Palevsky received bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and philosophy from the university in 1948.
• Douglas E. Rogers, a health-care executive, and his wife, Colleen, have established four gift annuities with a total value of $15.3-million to benefit Williams College, in Williamstown, Mass. Neither donor attended Williams; Mr. Rogers said the couple made the gift because of the college’s strong liberal-arts reputation.
• The real-estate developer Kenneth E. Behring has committed $15-million to establish the Wheelchairs for the World Foundation, in Danville, Calif. The organization’s mission is to deliver a wheelchair to every person in the world who needs one.

  The organization hopes to distribute one million wheelchairs and raise $150-million from other sources over the next five years. It estimates that 20 million people need wheelchairs.

• U. Bertram Ellis Jr., chairman of the Internet company iXL Enterprises, in Atlanta, and his wife, Deborah, have given $10-million to the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, for unrestricted use. Mr. Ellis is a 1975 alumnus.

Other recent gifts:

Bates College (Me.):

$1,500,000 from David Barlow of Wellesley, Mass., president of the investment firm Black Diamond Capital and a pharmaceuticals executive, and his wife, Ann, to endow trips for faculty members and students who wish to study abroad.

Boston Medical Center: $2,400,000 from Marshall N. Carter of Cambridge, Mass., a banking executive, and his wife, Missy, for programs at the Department of Pediatrics.

Catawba College (N.C.): $1,000,000 from an anonymous donor to construct an athletics field house, and a life-insurance policy valued at $1,000,000 from the children of the late Mort and Elizabeth Rochelle of Salisbury, N.C., for undetermined use.

Colorado School of Mines: $1,500,000 from Norman R. Rowlinson of Houston, an oil driller and consultant for U.S. oil companies, to recruit faculty and staff members and for scholarships for undergraduate students who are not residents of Colorado.

Columbia U. (N.Y.): $2,300,000 from an anonymous donor for the Human Rights Institute, at the Law School.

DePauw U. (Ind.): $5,000,000 from the family of the late Eugene S. Pulliam of Indianapolis, former executive vice president at Central Newspapers, to establish a visiting professorship in journalism.

Linfield College (Ore.): $2,300,000 from James F. Miller of New York, a retired businessman, to help construct the new Keck Campus.

Manhattan College (N.Y.): $5,000,000 from John Horan of Sea Gert, N.J., and Vero Beach, Fla., retired chairman of Merck & Company, and his wife, Julie, to endow scholarships and upgrade libraries.

Michigan Technological U.: $1,100,000 from Julian Ronse of Brevard, N.C., a retired district-engineering manager at Michigan Bell Telephone, for scholarships.

Mississippi State U.: $1,000,000 from Hassell H. Franklin of Houston, founder of the furniture company Franklin Corporation, to establish a program for furniture manufacturing and management.

Nature Conservancy of New York: $1,129,000 bequest from the estate of an anonymous donor to acquire and protect lands in New York State.

Ohio U.: $1,000,000 from Patricia Connor Study of Chicago, a realtor, to endow a professorship in contemporary U.S. history.

Opera Pacific (Calif.): $5,000,000 from Henry Samueli of Irvine, Calif., founder of Broadcom, and his wife, Susan, to pay off debt and for endowment.

Penn State U.: $2,000,000 from Albert and Lorraine Kligman of Philadelphia, physicians, for graduate fellowships at the College of Health and Human Development.

Rochester Area Community Foundation (N.Y.): $4,000,000 bequest from the estate of Lloyd E. Klos of Rochester, a writer and historian, for an endowment dedicated to historical preservation and education.

Stetson U. (Fla.): Artworks valued at $2,600,000 from the estate of Vera Bluemner Kouba of DeLand, Fla., whose late father was the modernist painter Oscar Bluemner. The bequest comprises 1,064 of Mr. Bluemner’s paintings and sketches, for which Stetson will provide a permanent home.

Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center (Fla.): $4,000,000 from the children of Louise Lykes Ferguson of Tampa, a civic and arts volunteer, and her husband, Chester H. Ferguson, a lawyer and businessman, to endow a theater.

U. of Maryland at Baltimore: $1,600,000 bequest from the estate of Evelyn Grollman Glick of Baltimore, a professional golfer, for the School of Pharmacy and the School of Medicine.

U. of Nebraska at Lincoln: $2,000,000 bequest from the estates of Otto (Red) Kammerer of Sun City West, Ariz., a construction supervisor, and his wife, Gertrude, for scholarships.

U. of Sioux Falls (S.D.): $1,000,000 bequest from the estate of Mary Morrison Baker of Des Moines, whose husband, Raymond, was a director of Pioneer Hi-Bred International, to endow campus maintenance.

U. of Southern California: $2,000,000 from Mark Stevens of Atherton, Calif., partner in the venture-capital firm Sequoia Capital, and his wife, Mary, to construct a building at the School of Engineering.

U. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas: $1,350,000 from S.T. Harris of Dallas, a retired officer of Texas Instruments, and his family, for professorships in medical science.

Wilberforce U. (Ohio): $2,000,000 from the musician Ray Charles of Los Angeles to establish a professorship and endow scholarships in music and the arts.