Banker Pledges $70-Million to Science; Other Big Gifts

Seven institutions have received big gifts:

• The South Dakota Science and Technology Authority, in Lead, S.D., has received a $70- million pledge from T. Denny Sanford, who owns several bank and credit-card companies, to renovate the Homestake Gold Mine, also in Lead, for use as a science and education center.

• Mr. Sanford, chief executive officer of the United Capital Corporation, First Premier Bank, and Premier Bancard, in Sioux Falls, S.D., plans to provide the money over four years. Mr. Sanford says he made the commitment to sway the National Science Foundation to choose Homestake as the site for its deep underground science and engineering laboratory and commit $10-million in grants to support research projects there. If the foundation does not choose Homestake, Mr. Sanford will rescind his pledge.

  He earmarked $35-million to build two underground laboratories, and $20-million for a center for children’s science education, which will be named for Mr. Sanford.

  The remaining $15-million will be used to upgrade the facility’s electrical system and equipment used in the mine shafts.

• The Children’s Hospital and Health Center, in San Diego, has received a $60-million unrestricted pledge from Ernest Rady, chairman of the Wachovia Corporation’s Dealer Finance Division and its California banking business, in San Diego; his wife, Evelyn; and their family. The money will go toward new facilities and programs, with the bulk of the pledge paying for a new building to house a cancer-care center, conference space, a neonatal intensive-care center, a surgical center, and 84 patient beds. The building is scheduled to open in 2010.

• Marvin J. Herb, chairman of Herbco, a holding company in Barrington, Ill.; his wife, Judy; and their family, have donated $20- million to Rush University Medical Center, in Chicago, for several building projects. The money will also endow scholarships for students studying primary-care medicine at Rush Medical College. Mr. Herb is a member of the center’s Board of Trustees and has been a patient there.

• Bruce Kovner, chairman of Caxton Associates, a hedge fund in New York, has donated approximately $20-million to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, in New York, for renovation projects. Mr. Kovner is a vice chairman of the center’s Board of Directors.

• The University of California at Riverside has received a joint $15.5-million pledge from two couples — William Austin, a partner at the William Austin Company, a property-management firm in Riverside, and his wife, Toby; and Bart Singletary, a retired partner at the firm, and his wife, Barbara. The money will be given equally by the two couples, who are donating it in the form of a combined charitable trust. The gift will endow 22 professorships in agriculture, medical education and research, and the social sciences.

• The Beaumont Hospital, in Royal Oak, Mich., has received a $15-million pledge from J. Peter Ministrelli, founder of the Ministrelli Development Company, a real-estate developer based in Indian Wells, Calif., and his wife, Florine, for its cardiology and urology programs. Most of the money — $11-million — will be used to establish a program in urologic research and education, and the remaining $4-million will support cardiology research. The couple lives in Palm Springs, Calif., and West Bloomfield, Mich.

• The New York Botanical Garden has received an $11-million donation from Lewis B. Cullman, a New York financier and senior vice president of the garden’s Board of Managers, and his wife, Dorothy. Most of the money — $7-million — will endow a research program in molecular systematics that will be conducted jointly with the American Museum of Natural History, in New York. Of the remaining money, $3-million will support general operations, and $1-million will endow a curator position in molecular systematics.

Other recent gifts:

Amnesty International USA (New York): $2-million from Nicolas Cage, the actor, to establish a fund to help former child soldiers around the world. The money will pay for medical, psychological, and reintegration services, and for rehabilitation centers.

Auburn U. (Ala.): $1-million pledge from Bobby Lowder, chief executive officer of Colonial Bancgroup, in Montgomery, Ala., and his wife, Charlotte, to support the Small Animal Teaching Hospital at the College of Veterinary Medicine. The Lowders’ two dogs have been treated at the hospital. Mr. Lowder graduated from the university in 1964.

Boston U.: $1.5-million pledge over five years from Peter T. Paul, president of Paul Financial, a mortgage brokerage in San Rafael, Calif., and owner of the Grove Street Winery, in Healdsburg, Calif., to pay for 10 three-year professorships for junior faculty members. Mr. Paul, a university trustee, graduated from its School of Management in 1971.

California Lutheran U. (Thousand Oaks): $1.5-million from George (Corky) Ullman, and his brother, Steve Ullman, who together own Grant Parking, which manages several of the brothers’ business enterprises, in Los Angeles, to build a baseball stadium. George Ullman graduated from the university in 1976, and Steven Ullman graduated in 1977.

Cancer Therapy & Research Center (San Antonio): $1-million from Ruth McLean Bowers, of San Antonio, for a new center for breast-cancer research scheduled to open in July.

Case Western Reserve U. (Cleveland): $1.5-million from Charles H. Phipps, a general partner at Sevin Rosen Funds, a venture-capital firm in Dallas, and his brother, John B. Phipps, a retired vice president of the Norton Company, a chemical-processing company in Worcester, Mass., for a discretionary fund for the dean of the Case School of Engineering. Both brothers graduated from the university in 1949.

Chicago Humanities Festival: $1-million from Karla Scherer, former director of the R.P. Scherer Corporation, in Troy, Mich., to endow lectures and programs. The group received an additional $1-million from Carl and Marilynn J. Thoma, owners of Van Duzer Vineyards, in Dallas, Ore., to establish an endowment to pay the salary of the festival’s artistic director. Ms. Scherer serves on the organization’s board, where Ms. Thoma is vice chair and treasurer.

Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia): $1.6-million from Rita E. Hauser, a lawyer and former senior partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, in New York, and her husband, Gustave, chairman and chief executive officer of Hauser Communications, in New York, to endow a professorship in conducting.

Eckerd College (St. Petersburg, Fla.): $1-million from Thomas A. James, chief executive officer of Raymond James Financial, in St. Petersburg, and his wife, Mary, to endow a finance professorship.

Foothill Country Day School (Claremont, Calif.): $1.3-million bequest from Evelyn French, a retired first-grade teacher at the school who died in 2004, for endowment.

George Mason U. Foundation (Fairfax, Va.): $1-million from Robert A. Levy, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute, a think tank in Washington, and his wife, Diane, for the School of Law. Mr. Levy is a 1994 graduate of the law school. The university also received $1-million from Milton V. Peterson, founder and chairman of the Peterson Companies, a real-estate development company in Fairfax; his wife, Carolyn; and their family, for scholarships for music students. Ms. Peterson serves on the foundation’s Board of Trustees.

Guild Hall (East Hampton, N.Y.): $1-million from Marjorie Chester, a freelance writer in East Hampton, to support a newly renovated education center, and $1-million from Lewis B. Cullman, a New York financier, to endow educational programs at this arts and culture center.

Hofstra U. (Hempstead, N.Y.): $3.5-million from Peter S. Kalikow, the president of H.J. Kalikow & Company, a New York real-estate firm, and the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, in New York, to establish a center for the study of the American presidency, and to endow a professorship in presidential studies. Mr. Kalikow graduated from the university in 1965 and currently serves on its Board of Trustees.

Kirkwood Community College (Cedar Rapids, Iowa): $1-million pledge from Michael and Jan Gould, founders of Gould & Lamb, a medical- and financial-liability services company, in Bradenton, Fla., to establish an endowment. Mr. Gould graduated from the college.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (New York): $5-million from Stephen M. Ross, chief executive officer of the Related Companies, a New York real-estate development firm, and his wife, Kara; $3-million from Norma W. Hess, the president of the Hess Foundation, in Roseland, N.J.; $2-million from Harvey Golub, chief executive officer of H. Golub Associates, in Teaneck, N.J., and his wife, Roberta; $2-million from Philip Milstein, a principal of Ogden CAP Properties, a New York real-estate company, and his wife, Cheryl; $1-million from Thomas H. Lee, the president of Thomas H. Lee Capital, in New York, and Ann Tenenbaum; and $1-million from George Weissman, a former chairman of Philip Morris, of Rye, N.Y., and his wife, Mildred. All the donations will go toward the center’s capital campaign for renovation projects.

Martin Memorial Health Systems (Stuart, Fla.): $1-million from Bill Lichtenberger, a retired chief executive officer of Praxair, an industrial-gas supplier in Danbury, Conn., and his wife, Pat, for the Frances Langford Heart Center at Martin Memorial. A portion of the money — $250,000 — will go toward endowment, and the rest will be used to support the heart center, which is scheduled to open in August.

Northfield Mount Hermon School (Gill, Mass.): $5-million from William R. Rhodes, chief executive officer of Citibank and senior vice chairman of Citigroup, in New York, for a new arts center. Mr. Rhodes, a chairman emeritus of the school’s Board of Trustees, graduated from this private school in 1953.

Phoenix Art Museum: $3.1-million from Ellen Katz, vice president of the museum’s Board of Trustees, and her husband, Howard C. Katz, a retired limited partner at Goldman Sachs, in New York, for a new wing to house the museum’s modern-art collection.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute (Buffalo, N.Y.): $1-million bequest from Waldemar Kaminski, a vending-stall operator who made his money by investing in the stock market, to endow a chair in pediatrics. Mr. Kaminski died in June.

Southern Methodist U. (Dallas): $2.5-million from David B. Miller, a co-founder and partner of EnCap Investments, in Dallas, and his wife, Carolyn. The Millers have allocated $1-million to endow a professorship in business in the Edwin L. Cox School of Business, and $1-million to build a new basketball facility. They have designated the remaining $500,000 for the men’s basketball program. Mr. Miller graduated from the university in 1972, and earned an M.B.A. there in 1973.

Student Sponsor Partners (New York): $3-million from David J. Dunn, the founder and managing partner of Idanta Partners, a venture-capital firm in San Diego, for scholarships that will enable 150 low-income New York students to attend private high schools.

U. of Kentucky (Lexington): $6-million from E. Vernon Smith, a Cincinnati internist, and his late wife, Eloise, to endow research positions in Alzheimer’s disease and macular degeneration, as well as professorships in business, history, and nursing. The money will also establish scholarships in band, medicine, and nursing. Dr. Smith graduated from the university in 1937.

U. of Missouri at Columbia, School of Medicine: $1.1-million from Gerald Lee, a cardiologist in Independence, Mo., and his wife, Marilyn, to endow a chair in cardiology, pay for research on sudden cardiac death, and support clinical cardiology diagnosis and therapy. Dr. Lee graduated from the medical school in 1958, and taught in its Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Research.

U. of Pittsburgh Medical Center: $1-million from Henry Posner Jr., of Pittsburgh, and his family, to create a professorship in orthopedic surgery. The medical center will match the donation.

U. of Virginia (Charlottesville): $6-million bequest from Mortimer Y. Sutherland Jr., a retired high-school principal in Albemarle County, Va., who died in January. Most of the money — $4.5-million — will endow scholarships for needy students, and the remaining funds will establish a scholarship in the School of Nursing. Mr. Sutherland earned a bachelor’s degree from the university in 1934 and a master’s degree there in 1935.

U. of Washington Business School (Seattle): $6-million from J. Gary Shansby, a co-founder and chairman of TSG Consumer Partners, a San Francisco equity firm that invests in consumer-product companies. The bulk of the donation — $5-million — will go toward a new building, and the remaining $1-million will endow a professorship in marketing strategy. Mr. Shansby graduated from the university in 1959.

Virginia Tech (Blacksburg): $1.5-million from an anonymous donor to establish a professorship in community development in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Western Reserve Land Conservancy (Novelty, Ohio): $1-million from Dick Grimm, a former chairman of Huron Hospital, in East Cleveland, and Hillcrest Hospital, in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, and his wife, Sue, to the Land Protection Fund. Mr. Grimm serves on the conservancy’s board.

— Compiled by Maria Di Mento