Billionaire Gail Miller Gives Intermountain Healthcare $50 Million; Howard U. Gets $10 Million (Gifts Roundup)

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

Intermountain Healthcare

Gail Miller gave $50 million to help the organization kick off a $500 million expansion of its existing children’s health care network, which serves children in Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, and Alaska.

Gail Miller co-founded and is chairman of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, which includes auto dealerships, finance and insurance businesses, and sports teams and entertainment companies. She founded the business with her later husband, Larry Miller, in 1979.

Cristo Rey San José Jesuit High School

Billionaires George and Judy Marcus donated $10 million to establish an endowment for financial aid. The seven-year-old college preparatory school serves students from underserved parts of east San Jose, Calif. All Cristo Rey students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and most will be the first in their families to attend and complete college.

George Marcus co-founded Marcus & Millichap a commercial real-estate brokerage firm, and he founded Essex Property Trust, which invests in apartments. Judy Marcus is a retired physical-education teacher.

Howard University

Bruce and Martha Karsh gave $10 million through their Karsh Family Foundation to endow the Bison STEM Scholars Program, which is designed to increase the number of underrepresented minorities earning a Ph.D. or combined M.D./Ph.D. in a STEM discipline. The program will be renamed for the donors.

The money will also be used to create the Lomax KIPP Scholarships, a debt-free financial aid program for graduates of KIPP, a nationwide network of high-performing public schools in low-income communities.

Bruce Karsh is a former lawyer and the co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management, where he serves as chief investment officer. Martha Karsh is an attorney who founded an architecture and design firm.

Portland Art Museum

Arlene Schnitzer donated $10 million for endowment and to help pay for an effort to connect the museum’s two buildings via a new Mark Rothko Pavilion.

Schnitzer is an art collector who founded the Fountain Gallery, a Portland, Ore., art gallery that showcases artists in the Pacific Northwest. Her late husband, Harold Schnitzer, was a Portland real-estate developer.

To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated throughout the week.