$33-Million Award Promised to Va. University; Other Gifts

Four higher-education institutions have received big gifts:

• H.F. (Gerry) Lenfest, founder of Lenfest Communications, in Wilmington, Del., and chair of the Lenfest Foundation, in West Conshohocken, Pa., and his wife, Marguerite, have promised to match all gifts up to $33-million made to Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Va., to increase faculty compensation. Mr. Lenfest, who graduated from the university in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, and his wife had previously given a total of $30-million to Washington and Lee.
• Colgate University, in New York, has received $25-million from Dan Benton, chief executive officer of Andor Capital, a hedge-fund firm in Greenwich, Conn., to support financial aid. Mr. Benton said he would give that money if the institution raised at least $25-million through gifts of $1-million or more. Mr. Benton graduated from the university in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, and serves as a trustee of the university.
• Harvard Law School, in Cambridge, Mass., has received a pledge of $25-million from the Wasserstein family to build a new academic center, which will include lecture halls, study lounges, and other teaching facilities. Bruce Wasserstein, who graduated from the law school in 1970 and Harvard Business School in 1971, is chairman of Lazard, a financial-advisory and investment firm in New York.
• The University of Portland, in Oregon, has received a pledge of $12-million from Donald and Darlene Shiley to remodel and expand the university’s engineering building and to purchase new technology for the School of Engineering. Mr. Shiley is the inventor of Pfizer’s Bjork-Shiley heart valve and founder and retired owner of Shiley Inc., a medical-device manufacturer in Irvine, Calif., that was sold to Pfizer in 1979. He graduated from the university in 1951 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

Other recent gifts:

Concordia U. (Irvine, Calif.): $1-million from Steeve Kay, co-founder of QTC Management, a medical-disability evaluation company in Diamondbar, Calif., to help build a new classroom.

Hebrew SeniorLife (Boston): $2.5-million from Jack Satter, inventor of the Fenway Frank hot dog and former president of the Colonial Provision Company, in Boston, for its capital campaign.

Mercy Health Foundation (Oshkosh, Wis.): $2.5-million from Theresa M. Cheng, a neurosurgeon at Affinity Mercy Medical Center, in Oshkosh, to endow a fund to support an international medical-outreach program, the center’s neurosurgery program, and other projects.

Nature Conservancy (Phoenix): a 1,250-acre ranch valued at $1.5-million from Dan Bates, an artist and restaurateur in Tucson, to help preserve a tributary of the San Pedro River.

Pratt Institute (New York): $5-million from Juliana Curran Terian, chairman of the Rallye Group, an automobile dealership in Roslyn, N.Y., to help build its Design Center, which will house the institute’s communications, fashion, industrial, and interior-design programs. Ms. Terian graduated from the Pratt Institute School of Architecture in 1990.

Shawnee State U. (Portsmouth, Ohio): $1.3-million pledge from Jim Kricker, retired president of Charter One Bank, in Portsmouth, for its capital campaign.

U. of Maryland at College Park: $1.5-million from Jack Kay, president of Kay Management, a real-estate firm in Silver Spring, Md., to endow a professorship in Israel studies. Mr. Kay graduated from the university in 1947 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

U. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas: $1-million from W. Herbert Hunt, president of Petro-Hunt, an energy company in Dallas, to endow a professorship in prostate-cancer research. Mr. Hunt was treated for the disease at the medical center.

Wesleyan U. (Middletown, Conn.): $2.5-million pledge from Joshua Boger, founder and chief executive officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, in Cambridge, Mass., and his wife, Amy, to help design a molecular and life-sciences building. Mr. Boger graduated from the university in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and philosophy.

West Nottingham Academy (Colora, Md.): $1-million unrestricted bequest from Vincent Newton, a retired real-estate investor in New York. The gift will support the academy’s endowment. Mr. Newton, who died in 2005 at age 83, graduated from the school in 1935.

— Compiled by Anne W. Howard

To submit announcements of donations from individuals of $1-million or more, please send an e-mail message to gifts@philanthropy.com.