$8-Million to Valdosta State U.; Other Gifts

Valdosta State University, in Georgia, has received a bequest of approximately $8-million from the estate of Lillian S. Steele, who died in 2001. Mrs. Steele, an interior designer, was the widow of Rea Steele, who came to Valdosta in 1954 when he was elected president of First State Bank there.

The money will be used to endow academic scholarships in finance and accounting and to establish professorships at the Harley Langdale Jr. College of Business Administration.

The following nonprofit institutions also received large gifts:

College of St. Catherine (St. Paul): $1-million in a charitable remainder unitrust from Kathleen Westby Kasprick, an alumna, and her husband, Lyle Kasprick, a former chairman of North American Vaccine, in Columbia, Md., for its capital campaign.

Foothill-De Anza Community College District (Los Altos Hills, Calif.): $4-million bequest from Dale Schoettler, a personal investor, to assist students with physical limitations such as blindness.

Johns Hopkins U. (Baltimore): $3-million from Keith and Rose-Lee Reinhard, of New York, to endow a professorship in urologic pathology at the Brady Urological Institute.

Juniata College (Huntingdon, Pa.): $1-million from Barry J. Halbritter, a trustee and chair of the college’s capital campaign, and his wife, Marlene, to benefit the Marlene and Barry Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts.

National Museum of the American Indian (Washington): Gifts totaling $6-million from two anonymous donors to help construct a building that will house the museum.

Northwestern Foundation (St. Paul): $5.1-million from an anonymous donor to be distributed among 15 nonprofit organizations, including Northwestern College, in St. Paul, and Minnesota Teen Challenge, in Minneapolis.

St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation (Toronto): $5-million from Terrence Donnelly, a lawyer in Toronto, to renovate the hospital’s facilities.

U. of Texas at Austin: $1-million from Jack S. Blanton to support the Blanton Museum of Art.

U. of Toronto: $5-million from Terrence Donnelly, a lawyer in Toronto, to help construct a building for the Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research; and a $1-million bequest from Kathleen Banbury, of St. Catharines, Ontario, to endow a chair for molecular research at the Faculty of Medicine.