Culinary School Receives $35-Million; Other Gifts

Ten institutions have received big gifts:

• The Culinary Institute of America, in Hyde Park, N.Y., has received a pledge of $35-million from Christopher (Kit) Goldsbury, former owner of Pace Foods, in San Antonio, and founder and chairman of Silver Ventures, a private investment firm in San Antonio, for efforts to encourage Latinos to pursue leadership positions in the American food-service industry. Of the gift, $7-million will build a new facility for the institute’s Center for the Foods of the Americas on its San Antonio campus, and $3-million will cover the costs of starting the program. The gift also includes $5-million to build another Center for the Foods of the Americas at the Hyde Park campus. Most of the gift — $20-million — is earmarked for scholarships for students on both campuses. Mr. Goldsbury once took a baking class at the culinary school’s Greystone, Calif., location.
• Northern Arizona University, in Flagstaff, has received $25-million from William A. Franke, managing partner of Indigo Partners and Newbridge Latin America, private-equity firms in Phoenix, for its College of Business. The gift will support ethics education, efforts to recruit and retain faculty members and researchers, scholarships, technology, and programs to help improve students’ written and oral business communications. Mr. Franke has led several businesses in Arizona, including America West Airlines, the Circle K Corporation, and Southwest Forest Industries.
• The Archdiocese of New York has received $22.5-million from Robert Wilson, a retired investor in New York, for the Cardinal’s Scholarship Program, which provides scholarships for needy students to attend Roman Catholic schools in New York. Mr. Wilson’s gift will support 3,000 scholarships for students in the fall.
• The H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, in Tampa, Fla., has received $20.4-million from Donald A. Adam, chairman of American Momentum Bank, in Tampa, to create the Comprehensive Melanoma Research Center and support the first five years of research and development there. Mr. Adam is a melanoma survivor.
• The Pacific Northwest College of Art, in Portland, Ore., has received $15-million from Hallie E. Ford, a former elementary-school teacher and co-founder of Roseburg Forest Products, a lumber and building-materials manufacturer in Dillard, Ore., to establish the Institute for Visual Education and create new graduate programs in fine arts, on which the institute will collaborate with local arts groups and businesses.
• Boston College, in Chestnut Hill, Mass., has received $13.5-million from Patrick T. Stokes, chairman of Anheuser-Busch, a beer company in St. Louis, and his wife, Anna-Kristina (Aja), to help build a new facility to house dining rooms and meeting spaces for student government and other groups. Mr. Stokes, who is chairman of the institution’s Board of Trustees, graduated from Boston College in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree in math; all three of his sons are also alumni.
• International College, in Naples, Fla., has received an unrestricted gift of $12-million from Earl G. Hodges, who owns several funeral businesses in Florida, and his wife, Thelma, a retired nurse at the Naples Community Hospital. In honor of the gift, the institution will change its name to Hodges University.
• The Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston has received a $10-million gift from Pete Nicholas, co-founder and chairman of Boston Scientific, a medical-device developing and manufacturing company in Natick, Mass., and his wife, Ginny, for its fund-raising campaign. The couple stipulated that other donors had to contribute gifts of $2-million or more to match each $1-million of the Nicholases’ gift, up to $10-million, within one year; the organization has already reached that goal.
• Melvin Simon, co-founder and co-chairman of Simon Property Group, a real-estate investment company in Indianapolis, and his wife, Bren, have pledged $10-million to the Indianapolis Museum of Art to endow the position of director and chief executive officer. Ms. Simon is a trustee of the museum.
• Pennsylvania State University, in University Park, has received a pledge of $10-million from Charles H. (Skip) Smith, founder of State College Audio-Visual Supply, in Pennsylvania, to help build a 400-acre arboretum that will comprise gardens, educational and research facilities, a visitors’ center, and a conservatory. Construction of the arboretum is expected to begin this fall. Mr. Smith graduated from Penn State in 1948 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.

Other recent gifts:

Adams State College Foundation (Alamosa, Colo.): stock valued at $5.8-million from William Porter, founder and chairman emeritus of E*Trade Financial Corporation, an online brokerage service in New York, and his wife, Joan, to endow scholarships in math and science for needy students. Mr. Porter graduated from the college in 1951 with a bachelor’s degree in math.

Albright College (Reading, Pa.): $1-million from Frank A. Franco, a retired physician who lives in Wyomissing, Pa., and his wife, Paula, and two gifts of $1-million each from two anonymous donors. All of the gifts are earmarked to help build the college’s new science center.

Archdiocese of New York: $4.5-million from an anonymous donor for the Cardinal’s Scholarship Program, which provides scholarships for needy students to attend Roman Catholic schools in New York.

Baylor U. (Waco, Tex.): $1-million bequest from the estate of Virginia Frances Webb, a retired teacher, in Texas, to create an endowment for the Martin Museum of Art and Mayborn Museum’s Traveling Exhibit Program. Ms. Webb died in 2005 at the age of 95.

Cape Fear Botanical Garden (Fayetteville, N.C.): $1-million from Dot Wyatt, vice president of Valley Auto World, a car dealership in Fayetteville, for expansions, including a new visitors’ pavilion, exhibits, and educational programs. Mrs. Wyatt’s late husband, John, founded Valley Auto World.

Center for Jewish History (New York): $1-million from the Ackman and Ziff families to expand visitors’ access to genealogical records. Lawrence D. Ackman is chairman and Simon Ziff is president of the Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group, a consulting company in New York. William A. Ackman is general partner of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund in New York.

Coe College (Cedar Rapids, Iowa): $1.2-million bequest from the estate of Audrey G. Anderson, who lived in Cedar Rapids, to endow scholarships for art, business-administration, math, and English students. Ms. Anderson died last year at age 98.

Delaware Art Museum (Wilmington): $6.9-million bequest of cash and artworks from the estate of Helen Farr Sloan, a painter, to endow the curation and educational programs. Her late husband, John, was a prominent painter who died in 1951. Ms. Farr Sloan died in 2005 at the age of 94.

JAMS Foundation (Irvine, Calif.): $1-million pledge from Daniel Weinstein, a retired San Francisco Superior Court judge, to provide grants for alternative dispute resolution. Judge Weinstein serves on the mediation organization’s Board of Directors.

Juniata College (Huntingdon, Pa.): $1-million from David Goodman Jr., president of D.C. Goodman and Sons, a mechanical contractor in Huntingdon, Pa., to endow a professorship in biology.

Miami U. (Oxford, Ohio): $2-million from Jim Chapman, chairman of Red Capital Markets, in Columbus, Ohio, and his wife, Amy, a former paralegal at Meuse, Rinker & Chapman, an investment-banking firm in Columbus, Ohio, to help build a new facility for the university’s Farmer School of Business. Ms. Chapman graduated from Miami in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, and Mr. Chapman graduated in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in finance.

Montana Rescue Mission (Billings): $1.3-million from Lois O. Dyce, whose late husband, Quentin, was a member of the group’s Board of Directors. Mr. Dyce owned Dyce Chemical, an industrial-chemical company in Billings. Ms. Dyce asked that her gift support the capital campaign.

Montreat Conference Center (N.C.): $1-million from Gayden R. (Sissy) Jones, who inherited money from her parents, to endow a fund to protect and manage wilderness areas around the center.

Northern Illinois U. (DeKalb): $2-million pledge from Raymond Smerge, chief executive officer of Savrola Development Company, a real-estate firm in Dallas, and his wife, Pat, to endow a dean’s position in liberal arts and sciences. Mr. Smerge graduated from the university in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in political science.

Old Town School of Folk Music (Chicago): $1-million pledge from Gary Maurer, executive vice president of Institutional Capital, an investment firm in Chicago, and his wife, Laura, to support its capital campaign.

Rollins College (Winter Park, Fla.): $5-million from Alan Ginsburg, chief executive officer of the CED Companies, a real-estate firm in Maitland, Fla., that develops and manages apartment complexes, to endow scholarships and a professorship in Jewish studies, and to support curriculum and faculty development.

Southwestern Medical Foundation (Dallas): $5-million from Adelyn Hoffman, widow of Edmund Hoffman, former co-chairman of the Coca-Cola Bottling Group (Southwest), in Dallas, to support genetic and epidemiology research at the U. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Squamscott Community Commons (Exeter, N.H.): $1-million from Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code, and his wife, Blythe, to help build the community center, which will include arts, child-care, health, nutrition, and recreation programs, as well as a YMCA.

U. of California-San Diego (La Jolla): $1-million from Audrey S. Geisel, widow of Theodor Geisel, author of the “Dr. Seuss” children’s books, to endow a librarian’s position. Ms. Geisel is president of Dr. Seuss Enterprises and the Dr. Seuss Foundation, both in La Jolla.

U. of California at Santa Barbara: $2-million from Duncan Mellichamp, professor emeritus of chemical engineering, and his wife, Suzanne, a retired schoolteacher, to endow four professorships to explore new areas of study. Ms. Mellichamp graduated from the university in 1970 with a master’s degree in education.

U. of Michigan (Ann Arbor): $4.5-million from David Barger, chief executive officer of JetBlue Airways, in New York, to endow the Leadership Institute in the Organizational Studies Program.

U. of North Dakota Foundation (Grand Forks): $5-million bequest from Louise Ferguson to support scholarships. Her husband, Bill, was a real-estate manager for the Atlantic Richfield Oil Company, in Los Angeles. He died in 1978; Ms. Ferguson died last year at the age of 90.

U. of North Texas (Denton): $1.5-million from Carl Eastman, a retired aviation engineer for the U.S. Air Force, and his wife, Margaret, to endow scholarships for piano and organ students. Mr. Eastman died in 2005 at the age of 83, and Ms. Eastman died in 2000 at age 96.

U. of Pittsburgh: $1-million from James B. Tafel, owner of Street Sense, the horse that won this year’s Kentucky Derby, to support graduate and undergraduate business students. Mr. Tafel, who graduated from the university in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in business, retired as chief executive officer of Technical Publishing, in Barrington, Ill.

U. of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg): $5-million from Gene Carlisle, founder of Carlisle Corporation, a retail-management company in Memphis, to help build its new sports facilities. Mr. Carlisle graduated from the university in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

U. of Texas Southwestern (Dallas): $1-million from Charles Y.C. Pak, a professor of internal medicine at the medical school and director of its Biotechnology Group in Mineral Metabolism, and his wife, Jane, to support a center for metabolic research and support clinical-research projects and training in that field.

U. of Vermont College of Medicine (Burlington): $6.8-million bequest from Elinor B. Tourville Bennett, a former dental assistant in Burlington, to create a fund to make no-interest loans to help students pay for their education. Ms. Bennett, who inherited her money, died last year at age 86.

U. of Wisconsin at Milwaukee: $2.5-million from David O. Nicholas, president of Nicholas Company, an investment-management corporation in Milwaukee, to establish an applied-finance laboratory at the Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business. Mr. Nicholas graduated from the university in 1987 with a master’s degree in finance.

Williams Baptist College (Walnut Ridge, Ark.): $1-million from Steve Manley, chief executive officer of Universal Asset Management, an airplane-parts dealer in Memphis, to help build a new chapel for the campus.

— Compiled by Anne W. Howard

To submit announcements of donations from individuals of $1-million or more, please send an e-mail message to gifts@philanthropy.com.