Couple Leaves $120-Million to 3 Institutions; Other Gifts

Several non-profit organizations have received big gifts.

* A San Diego couple has bequeathed a total of $120-million to three institutions in California.

The California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, has received $60-million from the estate of Rea A. and Lela (Jackie) Axline of San Diego. They directed the gift to endow scholarships for graduate and undergraduate students.

Mr. Axline, who graduated from Caltech in 1931, founded Mountain Metallurgy, a New York company that applied rust-resistant coatings to metals. Mrs. Axline died in December 1998; her husband died in 1992.

The San Diego Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, in La Jolla, Cal., will receive $30-million each. The couple stipulated that their gifts become part of each museum’s endowment.

The San Diego Museum of Art’s endowment had previously stood at approximately $47-million. The Museum of Contemporary Art’s endowment was $4-million before the bequest.

The board of the San Diego Museum of Art was given discretion over all its new endowment; the Axlines required that the Museum of Contemporary Art only spend the investment income of their endowment.

Mr. Axline served as a trustee for the S.D.M.A., and his wife was a board member at the M.C.A.

* The Arthur G. James Cancer Center and Research Institute, in Columbus, Ohio, has received a $20-million commitment from Richard J. Solove, a local real-estate developer.

Mr. Solove, managing partner of R. J. Solove and Associates, in Columbus, pledged the money for research into a genetic cure for cancer. Mr. Solove’s father was treated for thyroid cancer by Dr. James in 1953.

Mr. Solove stipulated that the new gift become part of the center’s endowment and that only investment income be used for research. He estimated that $2.8-million will be available annually.

The university plans to rename the facility the Arthur G. James Cancer Center and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.

* The Coastal Bend Community Foundation, in Corpus Christi, Tex., has announced donations totaling $19.5-million from Edward Harte, a retired newspaper publisher, and his wife, Janet.

Their gifts, which the couple donated anonymously starting in February 1998, have gone to benefit charities in southern Texas and elsewhere that work in the areas of AIDS, the arts, children, education, the environment, and homelessness. The couple’s generosity became public in September when Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi announced that it would name its new performing-arts building for Mr. Harte after receiving $3.5-million from him. Word then spread that the couple was responsible for several other gifts, and the Hartes publicly acknowledged the donations.

Mr. Harte published the Corpus Christi Caller Times from 1962 to 1987.

Other recent gifts:

Canisius College (N.Y.): $1,500,000 from Carl Montante of Clarence, N.Y., chief executive officer of Uniland Development Company, and his wife, Carol, to renovate the cultural center.

Chicago Botanic Garden: $5,000,000 from Pleasant Rowland of Madison, Wis., founder of the Pleasant Company, which manufactures the “American Girls” doll collection, to create a new garden and visitors’ area.

Clemson U. (S.C.): $1,000,000 from an anonymous donor for scholarships.

Furman U. (S.C.): $2,000,000 from the family of the late Herman N. Hipp of Greenville, S.C., former president of Liberty Life Insurance Company, to construct an academic facility.

Juniata College (Pa.): Stock valued at $1,556,250 from an anonymous donor to create an information-technology program.

Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (Pa.): $6,000,000 from Fred J. Jaindl of Lehigh Valley, Pa., a farmer, to construct a building for inpatient and ambulatory-diagnostic services.

Oberlin College (Ohio): $5,000,000 from Thomas J. Klutznick of Chicago, president of a real-estate investment and development company that bears his name, for the capital campaign.

Pacific Lutheran University (Wash.): $2,400,000 bequest from the estate of Alma Meisnest of Seattle, a schoolteacher and investor, whose late husband, Ken, was vice-president and general manager of the Washington Athletic Club, for endowment.

Purdue U. (Ind.): $6,000,000 from Richard E. Dauch of Detroit, chairman of American Axle & Manufacturing, his wife, Sandy, and their four children, for the School of Management, the Krannert Graduate School of Management, and athletics.

Seattle Pacific U.: $2,400,000 bequest from the estate of Alma Meisnest of Seattle, a schoolteacher and investor, whose late husband, Ken, was vice-president and general manager of the Washington Athletic Club, for endowment.

Spalding U. (Ky.): $1,000,000 from Bill Merke of Highland Beach, Fla., who worked for United Parcel Service, and his wife, Shirley, for unrestricted use.

St. Lawrence U. (N.Y.): $4,000,000 from an anonymous donor for the capital campaign.

Trinity Christian College (Ill.): $4,000,000 from an anonymous family to construct a chapel and performing-arts center.

Troy State U. (Ala.): $1,300,000 from Claudia Crosby of Troy, Ala., a philanthropist, to restore its theater and for scholarships for students pursuing theater and fine-arts degrees.

U. of Florida: $1,000,000 from Wayne Masur of Miami, a mechanical contractor and banker, and his wife, Lyla, to endow a professorship and a graduate fellowship in the mechanical-engineering department.

U. of Missouri at Columbia: $5,000,000 from an anonymous donor to endow three chairs and three professorships at the College of Business and Public Administration.

U. of Puget Sound (Wash.): $2,400,000 bequest from the estate of Alma Meisnest of Seattle, a schoolteacher and investor, whose late husband, Ken, was vice-president and general manager of the Washington Athletic Club, for endowment.

Washington U. (Mo.): $6,600,000 from Howard L. Wood of Bonne Terre, Mo., co-founder of the cable-television company Charter Communications, and his wife, Joyce, owner of the consulting firm Wood and Associates, for graduate fellowships at the John M. Olin School of Business.

Western Kentucky U.: Charitable lead trust valued at $2,600,000 from an anonymous donor to establish four programs in the College of Business Administration.

Whitman College (Wash.): $2,400,000 bequest from the estate of Alma Meisnest of Seattle, a schoolteacher and investor, whose late husband, Ken, was vice-president and general manager of the Washington Athletic Club, for endowment.