Comedian Garry Shandling Left $15.2 Million to UCLA: Gifts Roundup

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

Museum of Modern Art

The late philanthropist David Rockefeller left roughly $103 million to the museum, adding to the $125 million in bequest commitments he made to MoMA some years ago.

Rockefeller, who died in 2017, was the youngest child of John D. Rockefeller Jr. He worked for Chase Manhattan Bank for 35 years and served as the bank’s chairman from 1969 to 1981, He had close ties to the museum going back many decades, and was a longtime supporter to the institution as well as to other nonprofits during his lifetime.

Massachusetts General Hospital

James and Carol Herscot pledge $50 million to back a variety of capital projects, programs, and the Herscot Center for Children and Adults with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex.

James Herscot founded Princeton Properties Management, a Lowell, Mass., company that builds and manages apartment buildings in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

The Herscots have been giving to the hospital for more than 50 years. In 2005, they donated $10 million to establish the Herscot Center and gave an additional $17.5 million in 2017. Their involvement with the center’s mission and work is personal. Their son Brad was diagnosed with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex nearly 50 years ago.

University of Florida and Baptist Health Foundation

Richard Cole pledged $20 million to University of Florida Levin College of Law to endow a program in health law and to support teaching, scholarship, and advocacy programs.

Cole is managing partner at the Miami law firm Cole, Scott & Kissane, P.A. He has deep ties to the university and law school. He earned a JD degree at the law school in 1974, and his late father, Robert Cole, graduated from UF’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1932 and UF Law in 1935.

Richard Cole also gave $10 million to Baptist Health Foundation, $5 million of which will fund the Robert B. Cole Distinguished Nursing Lecture Series, which his father established some years ago. The remaining $5 million will support Miami Cancer Institute.

University of North Texas

G. Brint and Amanda Ryan committed $30 million to create the College of Business and endow six professorships and academic programs in the areas of taxation and tax research, entrepreneurship, finance, logistics, information technology, cybersecurity, and behavioral accounting over seven years.

G. Brint Ryan founded Ryan, a tax-services and software company. He earned a dual Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree in accounting from the university in 1988.

University of California at Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine

The late comedian Garry Shandling left $15.2 million to endow research programs in the division of endocrinology, diabetes, and hypertension; the division of infectious diseases; and the Agi Hirshberg Center for Pancreatic Diseases.

Shandling, who was also a director, writer, and producer, underwent surgery at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center for hyperparathyroidism, a rare condition that can cause heart attacks, and was open about his gratitude to his doctors for the care he received. He died in 2016.

His gift will establish and endow the Garry Shandling Endocrine Surgery Research Fund, the Garry Shandling Infectious Diseases Innovation Fund, and the Garry Shandling Pancreatic Diseases Fund. The remainder of the bequest will create a general research fund within the medical school, which will operate under the direction of the medical school’s dean.

Columbia Journalism School and the Poynter Institute

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark gave two gifts through his Craig Newmark Philanthropies. He directed $10 million to Columbia Journalism School to launch the Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security and to endow the Craig Newmark Professorship of Journalism.

He gave an additional $5 million to the Poynter Institute to establish the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership, which aims to provide working journalists and industry leaders with training and education.

Newmark has been on a journalism giving spree in recent years. He gave $20 million to the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York and another $20 million to the technology-focused news startup the Markup in 2018 and smaller donations to New York Public Radio, Mother Jones Investigative Fund, ProPublica, and others.

Texas Tech University

Jerry and Margaret Hodge pledged $10 million to establish and build the School of Veterinary Medicine, which will be headquartered in Amarillo, Tex. The Hodges gift is aimed at eventually expanding veterinary services throughout the state’s agricultural areas.

Jerry Hodge is a former mayor of Amarillo and a pharmacist by training. He expanded Maxor Drugs, a local pharmacy, into Maxor National Pharmacy Services Corporation, and served as chairman and chief executive officer until his retirement in 2016.

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