Broadcasting Chief Pledges New Gifts to Alma Mater

Many non-profit groups have received large gifts.

* Broadcasting executive James E. Rogers has made more pledges to his alma mater, the University of Arizona, that could result in an additional $30-million to the university.

Mr. Rogers, owner of Sunbelt Communications, in Las Vegas, has offered to match, dollar for dollar, all new gifts to the College of Law, up to $15-million. He also promised $15-million to benefit departments other than the law school, leaving it up to university officials to decide the best uses for that pledge.

Mr. Rogers recently promised the College of Law $50-million upon his death, in addition to $50-million that he is donating over the next 20 years (The Chronicle, December 3).

* A couple who operated a gas station across the street from Belmont University, in Nashville, has left the institution gifts valued at $25-million, for scholarships.

Ed and Bernice Johnson owned an Esso service station from 1939 to 1955. They became rich thanks to the business next door, a snack company owned by Herman Lay. The Johnsons allowed Mr. Lay to buy gas on credit to make his deliveries, and when his company incorporated in 1948, he offered the Johnsons the chance to buy stock.

The fledgling potato-chip maker eventually merged with the Frito Company in 1961. Frito-Lay was acquired by the PepsiCola Company in 1965.

Mr. Johnson died in 1994, and Mrs. Johnson died last January. They bequeathed $8-million this year for scholarships for accounting students, and left instructions for their estate to give the university additional funds in 10 years, so that the value of those investments may increase in the interim. The held funds, which the Johnsons specified be used for unrestricted scholarships, are expected to bring the total donation to $25-million.

* The College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Va., has received a $13.4-million bequest from T. C. Clarke, retired chairman of Royal Crown Bottling Company, in Norfolk, Va. Mr. Clarke, a 1922 alumnus, asked that his gift support the college’s endowment, establish scholarships for law and business students and for student athletes, and improve the School of Business Administration.

* The Ingram-White Castle Foundation, in Columbus, Ohio, has received $11-million from E. W. Ingram, Jr., son of the founder of the White Castle hamburger chain, and his wife, Mary. The gift will increase the fund’s endowment by almost 50 per cent, to $35-million.

Mr. Ingram’s father, E. W. (Billy) Ingram, established the foundation in 1949 to support education, health and human services, and the arts in central Ohio. It became an affiliate of the Columbus Foundation in 1981.

* Iowa State University, in Ames, has received $10-million from Russell Gerdin of Coralville, Iowa, chairman of the trucking company Heartland Express, and his wife, Ann, for a campaign to benefit the College of Business. The drive is part of the university’s larger effort to raise $450-million by June 2000.

* Louisiana State University, in Baton Rouge, has received $10-million from Gordon A. Cain, a director of the Texas Petrochemicals Corporation, in Houston, and his wife, Mary. The gift will endow five professorships and support other improvements in the chemical-engineering department.

* Shenandoah University, in Winchester, Va., has received $10-million from Bernard J. Dunn, Jr., co-founder of the consulting company BDM, and his wife, Anne-Marie. The Dunns will pay out the gift over the next 10 years to endow the School of Pharmacy.

* Virginia Wesleyan University, in Norfolk, has received $10-million from an anonymous donor to help construct a student center. University officials estimate that the facility will open in early 2001.

* Other recent gifts:

California State U. at San Marcos: $1,200,000 from Helene Clarke of Oceanside, Cal., widow of M. Gordon Clarke, an executive at Hughes Tool Company, to construct a field house for athletics.

Children’s Mercy Hospital (Mo.): $1,100,000 from Fred Lyons of Mission Hills, Kan., former chairman of Marion Laboratories, to establish a professorship in pediatric immunology research.

College of Saint Elizabeth (N.J.): Charitable remainder trust valued at $3,200,000 from Nancy E. Dowd of Rockville Centre, N.Y., retired director of scientific affairs at Pfizer, to endow science scholarships, purchase laboratory equipment, and improve science facilities and classrooms.

Duke U. (N.C.): $6,500,000 from John P. McGovern of Houston, an allergist and immunologist, to help construct a children’s-health center at the university’s medical center.

Good Samaritan Medical Center (Fla.): $2,000,000 from Laurence E. Barreca of Palm Beach, Fla., a retired real-estate developer, to endow a medical directorship at the Helen and Harry Gray Cancer Institute, and to help expand the facility.

Hastings College (Neb.): $1,400,000 bequest from the estate of Dorothy Becker of Omaha, a volunteer in the Presbyterian Church, for unrestricted use.

High Point U. (N.C.): $2,000,000 from Pauline L. Hayworth of High Point, N.C., whose late husband, Charles, was president of Alma Desk, a furniture manufacturer, to help construct a fine-arts center. The gift must be matched dollar for dollar by other sources by October 31, 2000.

Loyola Marymount U. (Cal.): $2,000,000 from Peter O’Malley of Los Angeles, former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, his wife, Annette, his daughter, Terry O’Malley Seidler, and his son-in-law, Rollie Seidler, chairman of Seidler Industries, to endow a professorship in bioethics.

Saint Louis U.: $5,000,000 from John M. Cook of Atlanta, chairman of the Profit Recovery Group International, to expand the business school.

U. of Kansas: $2,000,000 from Alfred Kuraner of Prairie Village, Kan., a retired lawyer, his wife, Genevieve, and their daughter, Ann Kuraner Smith, for scholarships.

U. of North Carolina at Charlotte: $1,000,000 from Nicholas Goudes of Charlotte, a retired restaurateur, for scholarships for students who plan to become English or mathematics teachers.

Wesleyan College (Ga.): Stock valued at $1,000,000 from Clara Carter Acree of Nashville, a former elementary-school teacher, to endow a professorship.

Westmont College (Cal.): $3,500,000 from an anonymous couple for unrestricted use.