Africa Project to Receive $50-Million; Other Big Gifts

Nine institutions have received big gifts:

• The financier George Soros pledged $50-million over five years to Millennium Promise Alliance, in New York, to support the Millennium Villages Project, an effort to fight poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. This project works in 79 villages in 10 countries to ease hunger, advocate women’s rights, improve education and health care, and achieve other goals aimed at improving living conditions in Africa over the next five years.

• Columbia University, in New York, has received a $48-million pledge from H.F. (Gerry) Lenfest, founder of Lenfest Communications, in Wilmington, Del., to match donations other people make to endow professorships. The money will match gifts of $1.5-million — up to $37.5-million — made to the School of Arts and Sciences, and up to $10.5-million at Columbia Law School. Mr. Lenfest, who graduated from the law school in 1958, gave $12-million to the university last year to establish the Distinguished Columbia Faculty Awards.

• The City University of New York received $30-million from William E. Macaulay, chief executive officer of First Reserve, a private-equity firm in Greenwich, Conn., to buy a building in Manhattan’s Upper West Side neighborhood to house the Honors College, and to support the university’s endowment.

  Mr. Macaulay graduated from City College, one of the university system’s campuses, in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

• Brown University, in Providence, R.I., and Syracuse University, in New York, each received bequests of $26.5-million from the estates of Frederic N. Schwartz, a former chief executive officer of the pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers, now Bristol-Myers Squibb, based in New York, and his wife, Eleanor.

  Mr. Schwartz, who died in 1995 at the age of 88, graduated from Syracuse in 1931 with bachelor’s degrees in English and economics, and Ms. Schwartz, who died in July at age 98, graduated in 1929 from Pembroke College, Brown’s women’s college, which formally merged with the university’s undergraduate program in 1971. The gift to Brown will establish a scholarship fund for female students. The money given to Syracuse will provide financial assistance to needy students.

• Stanford University School of Medicine, in California, received a gift of $25-million from Jill and John Freidenrich to establish a center to translate clinical research in cancer and other diseases into patient care. Mr. Freidenrich, who received both his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1959 and his law degree in 1963 from Stanford, is a general partner at Bay Partners, a venture-capital firm in Cupertino, Calif.

  Ms. Freidenrich graduated from the university in 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in modern European literature, and in 1991 was treated successfully for breast cancer at Stanford Hospital and Clinics.

• The University of Hawaii, in Honolulu, received a gift of $25-million from Jay H. Shidler, founder and managing partner of the Shidler Group, a commercial real-estate company based in Honolulu. The money, directed to the business school, will endow faculty positions and support academic programs, faculty research, scholarships, and visiting faculty. Mr. Shidler graduated from the university in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

• Pitzer College, in Claremont, Calif., received a bequest of $15-million from Roger C. Holden, an investor in Laguna Beach, Calif., who died in 1968. Mr. Holden bequeathed his home to the college at the time of his death, when the property was valued at $134,000, but his widow, Sylvia Holden Robb, lived there until she died in February. The property was sold this month for $15-million. The money will help to build a new residence hall, and will also support the endowment and scholarships.

• Iowa State University, in Ames, received a bequest of $12-million from Frances M. Craig, who graduated from the university in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree in home economics. The money will support a discretionary endowment for the university’s president and endow a professorship in chemistry. Ms. Craig, a retired secretary for Greyhound Bus Lines, in Elgin, Ill., received an inheritance from her parents in 1991. She died in November at age 79.

Other recent gifts:

Arkansas Children’s Hospital (Little Rock): $1-million from John and Karen Flake, to help build a new hospital facility in northwest Arkansas. John Flake is chairman of Flake & Kelley Commercial, a real estate-development company in Little Rock, and Karen Flake is chief executive officer of Flake-Wilkerson Market Insights, a marketing-research firm in Little Rock.

Bakersfield College (Calif.): $5.7-million from Norman Levan, a dermatologist in Bakersfield, to promote the study of the humanities as it relates to medicine, and to support scholarships, essay programs, and the continuing-education program.

Baltimore Museum of Art: $2-million from Suzanne F. Cohen, former president of the Board of Trustees. Half of the gift will support the museum’s new free-admission policy, and the other $1-million will contribute to the endowment for contemporary-art exhibits.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (Colorado Springs): $1.46-million from an anonymous donor to support the Rocky Mountain Wild exhibit, which will house animals native to Colorado.

Dallas Baptist U.: $8-million from Bo Pilgrim, a co-founder and chairman of Pilgrim’s Pride, a poultry company based in Pittsburg, Tex., to build a chapel.

Mount St. Mary Academy (Little Rock, Ark.): $1-million from John and Karen Flake for the endowment, new facilities, and renovations. Mr. Flake is chairman of Flake & Kelley Commercial, a real estate-development company in Little Rock. Ms. Flake, chief executive officer of Flake-Wilkerson Market Insights, a marketing-research firm in Little Rock, graduated from the school in 1965, and taught English and theology there from 1972 to 1974.

Oregon State U. College of Forestry (Corvallis): $3.6-million from Richard Strachan, director of the Miami Corporation, in Chicago, to endow a professorship in the newly added forest-operations management program. Mr. Strachan graduated from the college of forestry in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in forest management.

Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital at University Hospitals (Cleveland): $5-million from the families of Leonard and Joan Horvitz and Richard, Danielle, and Matthew Horvitz, to help build a new pediatric emergency center. The gift is given in honor of Marcy Horvitz, the late wife of Richard, chairman of Moreland Management Company, in Cleveland.

Southern Illinois U. at Edwardsville: $2.4-million bequest from Homer Cox, a retired professor of business at the university, to support scholarships at the school of business. Mr. Cox died in May at age 93.

St. Joseph Hospital (Orange, Calif.): $2.5-million from Ernie and Joshua Townsend, co-owners of the Land Rover-Jaguar Anaheim Hills car dealership, in California, and their families, to help build a new cancer center. Ernie Townsend, Joshua’s father, was diagnosed and treated for colon cancer at the hospital.

Stanford U. Graduate School of Business (Calif.): $1-million from William H. Draper III, a general partner of Draper Richards, a venture-capital firm specializing in technology companies, in San Francisco, to support the school’s publication, the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

U. of California at Los Angeles: $1-million pledge from David Y. Lee, president of Jamison Properties, a commercial real-estate company in Los Angeles, and his wife, Miki M. Nam, vice president of Jamison Properties, to establish an endowment for the school of dentistry’s academic programs. Mr. Lee received master’s degrees from the university in both public health and business administration, and his wife earned a degree as a doctor of dental surgery there in 1983.

U. of Hawaii at Manoa: $1-million from William R. Johnson Jr., chief executive officer of Johnson Machinery, in Riverside, Calif., and his wife, Sylvia Sue, to endow two professorships at the Shidler College of Business. Mr. Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree there in business administration in 1965.

U. of Massachusetts at Amherst: an unrestricted gift of $5-million from Douglas Berthiaume, president of the Waters Corporation, a technology firm in Milford, Mass., and his wife, Diana, for the Isenberg School of Management. Mr. Berthiaume received a bachelor’s degree there in business in 1971.

U. of Miami (Coral Gables, Fla.): $2-million from Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, an actor and former professional wrestler, and his wife, Dany, founder of JDM Partners, a wealth-management firm in Miami. The money will help build and decorate the living room of the alumni center. Mr. Johnson graduated from the university in 1995 with an associate’s degree in business, and Ms. Johnson received a bachelor’s degree there in business administration in 1992.

U. of Michigan at Ann Arbor: $4-million from David Brandon, chief executive officer of Domino’s Pizza, in Ann Arbor, and his wife, Jan. Half of the money will support a neonatal intensive-care unit in a new hospital. Of the remaining $2-million, $750,000 is for the athletics department and will support capital projects, operating expenses, and a new scholarship; $500,000 will go to the university’s school of education, to develop a system for organizing digital records; $250,000 will help build a gallery space in the university’s art museum; $250,000 is allocated to the department of urology, and will establish a pilot program for prostate-cancer patient support; and $250,000 will help build facilities for the school of business.

U. of Missouri at Columbia, College of Business: $1.94-million pledge, in cash and estate gifts, from William Caldwell, a retired senior vice president of marketing at Alexander Hamilton Life Insurance, in Detroit, to create a professional-development program for undergraduate students. Mr. Caldwell graduated from the business school in 1956.

U. of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia): $5-million bequest from the estate of Evelyn Butterworth, a real-estate agent in Buffalo, to support the department of genetics; $3.5-million bequest from the estate of Philip Whitcome, chairman of Avigen, in Alameda, Calif., to support fellowships at the Wharton School; $2-million from Fred M. Kirby II, president of the F.M. Kirby Foundation, in Morristown, N.J., to endow a chair in molecular ophthalmology; $2-million from Mariann MacDonald, executive vice president of operations at Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings, in Chadds Ford, Pa., to endow a professorship in breast-cancer care at the university’s Abramson Cancer Center; $2-million from David Pottruck, chief executive officer of Red Eagle Ventures, in San Francisco, to endow a professorship at the Wharton School; $1.5-million from Paul S. Angello, a partner at Stoel Rives, a law firm in Portland, Ore., to endow a professorship in engineering; $1.5-million from Mitchell Caplan, chief executive officer of E-Trade Financial Corporation, in Arlington, Va., and his wife, Cynthia, to support financial aid; $1-million from Arthur H. Bilger, a co-founder of Shelter Capital Partners, in Los Angeles, to support the annual-giving program and undergraduate scholarships at the Wharton School, and an internship in the School of Arts and Sciences; $1-million from Stephen J. Heyman, a partner at Nadel and Gussman, an oil and gas company in Tulsa, Okla., to support building renovations at the school of nursing; and $1-million from Leon Holt Jr., a retired vice chairman of Air Products and Chemicals, in Allentown, Pa., to support programs on international trade and law in the global economy.

U. of Tennessee (Knoxville): $5-million pledge from Brenda Lawson, a private investor in Cleveland, Tenn. At the Knoxville campus, $2.5-million will support the design and construction of a new basketball-practice facility and $1-million will be used for renovations to Neyland Stadium. The remainder is allocated for the Chattanooga campus: $750,000 for student and chancellor endowment, and $750,000 to build a pedestrian mall. This pledge adds to a previous pledge of $5-million in 2003. Also, Peyton Manning, quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts football team, pledged $1-million to renovate athletic facilities at the Knoxville campus. Mr. Manning played on the university’s football team, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in speech communications in 1998.

U. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas: $1-million bequest from the estate of Margaret W. Beckner, a retired social worker in Dallas, to establish a chair in otolaryngology. Ms. Beckner, who served as an assistant professor in the university’s department of psychiatry until 1987, died in January at age 82.