Business School to Receive $25-Million; Other Gifts

Two higher-education institutions have received big gifts:

• The University of California at Berkeley has received a $25-million pledge from an anonymous donor for a new building at its Haas School of Business. The proposed facility would provide teaching space and accommodations for executives attending programs at the school.
• The University of Utah School of Medicine, in Salt Lake City, has received a $22.5-million bequest from Arthur E. Benning, former president and chairman of the board of the Amalgamated Sugar Company, in Ogden, Utah. The gift will establish 12 professorships as well as a medical society that will sponsor an annual lecture or symposium. Mr. Benning died in 1990, and his wife, Rosemary, died last year.

Other recent gifts:

Bennington College (Vt.): $3.3-million bequest from Thomas H. Foster for academic programs and other support. Mr. Foster was a writer and worked as a book scout for the New York publishing house then known as Farrar, Straus and Company. The college also received a $1-million bequest from Dotha Seaverns Welbourn, a member of the Class of 1941, for general support. Ms. Welbourn was the owner and manager of the California Yacht Anchorages, a marina in Los Angeles.

Brenau U. (Gainesville, Ga.): $2-million from an anonymous donor to help construct a health-and-science building.

Douglas County Community Foundation (Lawrence, Kan.): $2.1-million from Dolph C. Simons Jr., chairman of the World Company, a media company in Lawrence, and his family, to establish a donor-advised fund.

Heifer International (Little Rock, Ark.): $3.5-million from the family of Polly Murphy Keller Winter, whose late husband, the Rev. Christoph Keller Jr., was the Episcopal bishop for the Diocese of Arkansas. The gift will help construct a center that will focus on education about hunger.

Michigan State U. (East Lansing): $7.5-million pledge from David Morris, a farmer in Grand Ledge, Mich., to create four endowments for agricultural research.

John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts (Eugene, Ore.): $1-million pledge from John and Robin Jaqua, of Eugene, to help the organization purchase the building that it currently uses as its headquarters. Mr. Jaqua is a retired lawyer and a former board member of Nike, and Ms. Jaqua is a psychologist.

St. Lawrence U. (Canton, N.Y.): $3.4-million pledge from Donald and Sue Rose, of Palo Alto, Calif., to support science facilities and the university’s endowment. Mr. Rose, a 1964 graduate of the university and a trustee, worked for the Intel Corporation, in Palo Alto, and holds six patents. The university also received a $1.9-million pledge from Sarah Johnson Redlich and Christopher R. Redlich Jr., of Hillsborough, Calif., for an endowed professorship in the sciences and the university’s endowment. Ms. Redlich graduated from the university in 1982 and has been a trustee since 1999. Mr. Redlich is chairman of the Marine Terminals Corporation, in Oakland, Calif. Another California couple, W. Barry and Patricia H. Phelps, of Thousand Oaks, have pledged $1-million for endowment and science facilities. Mr. Phelps is president of Spirent Communications, in Calabasas, Calif., and is a 1969 graduate of St. Lawrence, as is his wife.

U. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas): $5-million from an anonymous couple to establish a program that will develop and test efforts to provide medical care to underserved people.

YMCA of the Fox Cities (Appleton, Wis.): $7.6-million from Bruce and Barbara Purdy for a new facility and nature preserve. The gift includes land valued at $4.6-million and a cash gift of $3-million. Mr. Purdy, a former board member, is the retired vice president of Appleton Wire Works and a founder of Air Wisconsin, which merged with United Airlines.