D.C. Theater Receives $35-Million From Two Trustees; Other Gifts

Thirteen institutions have received big gifts:

• Arena Stage, in Washington, has received $35-million from Jaylee Montague Mead, a retired associate chief of the Space Data and Computing Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md., and her husband, Gilbert D. Mead, a retired researcher at the Goddard Space Flight Center, to help renovate its facilities and build a theater campus. Both Mr. and Ms. Mead serve on Arena Stage’s Board of Trustees. Mr. Mead is the grandson of George Mead, a co-founder of Consolidated Papers, in Wisconsin Rapids.

• University Hospitals, in Cleveland, has received $30-million from Monte Ahuja, his wife, Usha, and their family, to support its expansion. Mr. Ahuja, who is a member of the Board of Trustees, is the founder and chief executive officer of Transtar Industries, an automobile-parts manufacturing company in Cleveland. Ms. Ahuja previously taught mathematics at Cleveland State University.

• Marquette University’s College of Engineering, in Milwaukee, has received a pledge of $25-million from anonymous donors to support a fund-raising campaign, which will endow professorships and scholarships, enhance the curriculum, support research, and help build new facilities. The couple, who have given a total of $50-million to the university, plan to donate an additional $1-million a year in perpetuity. The husband studied engineering at the university.

• Roland S. Boreham Jr., a retired chairman of Baldor Electric Company, an electric-motor manufacturer in Fort Smith, Ark., has bequeathed a total of $24-million to six organizations. First Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Sparks Health System, in Fort Smith, the U. of Arkansas at Fort Smith, and the United Way of Fort Smith Area have each received $4.8-million. The Salvation Army in Fort Smith and the University of the Ozarks at Clarksville, in Arkansas, have each received $2.4-million. Mr. Boreham died last year at age 81.

• The Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, has received a pledge of $20-million from David H. Koch to support a new cancer-research building on the university’s East Baltimore medical campus. Mr. Koch, a member of the university’s Board of Trustees, is executive vice president of Koch Industries, an investment company in Wichita, Kan.

• The University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, has received a pledge of $15-million from Ralph J. Roberts, founder and a retired chairman of Comcast, the cable and Internet provider in Philadelphia, and his son, Brian L. Roberts, chairman of Comcast. The gift will help build and equip a proton-therapy center to treat cancer. Brian Roberts’s wife, Aileen, is currently being treated for the disease at the university’s Abramson Cancer Center. Both donors are alumni of the university’s Wharton School of Business.

• Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York, has received $15-million from Robert J. Appel, founder and president of Appel Associates, an investment firm in New York, and his wife, Helen, to establish an institute for Alzheimer’s research. Mr. and Ms. Appel both graduated from Cornell University; he received a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1953, and she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1955.

• Southern Methodist University, in Dallas, has received $10-million from Roy M. Huffington, chairman of Roy M. Huffington Incorporated, a petroleum-operations investment firm in Houston, to endow faculty salaries and student scholarships. Mr. Huffington, who with his late wife, Phyllis, had previously donated $10.6-million to the university, graduated from there in 1938 with a bachelor’s degree in geology.

Other recent gifts:

American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Foundation (Chicago): $1-million from Jerome B. Miller, a pediatric dentist in Oklahoma City, to support pediatric dental education.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Palm Beach, Fla.): $7-million from Carl J. Shapiro, a retired president of Kay Windsor, a clothing manufacturer in New Bedford, Mass., to support renovations and expansion.

Chi Omega Foundation (Memphis): $1.3-million bequest from the estate of Harry Boone, an executive in the defense industry, and his wife, Barbara, for its endowment. Ms. Boone, who died in 1993 at the age of 73, was a member of the fraternal organization’s Kappa Gamma chapter at Ohio Wesleyan U.

Hobart and William Smith Colleges (Geneva, N.Y.): $2.5-million pledge from Stuart S. Piltch, a managing director at Cambridge Advisory Group, in King of Prussia, Pa., and his wife, Sari Feldman, for its capital campaign.

Howard Community College (Columbia, Md.): $1.2-million from Jill McCuan, a retired banker, and her husband, Patrick, chief executive officer of MDG Companies, a real-estate investment company in Columbia, Md. The bulk of the gift, $1-million, is unrestricted. The remainder supports fund-raising efforts, financial aid, and scholarships.

Lehigh U. (Bethlehem, Pa.): $1-million from John A. Cable, a retired chairman of Newell Porcelain, in Newell, W.Va., to support construction costs of an arrival court at the university’s Alumni Memorial Building. Mr. Cable graduated from Lehigh in 1945 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering.

Liberty Science Center (Jersey City, N.J.): $5.1-million from Jennifer A. Chalsty, a former high-school teacher, to help build its Center for Learning and Teaching. Ms. Chalsty is a member of the center’s Board of Trustees.

Longwood U. (Farmville, Va.): $5-million pledge from John Randall Cook, a retired guidance supervisor at the Virginia Department of Education, in Richmond, and Waverly Manson Cole, a retired anesthesiologist at the Richmond Eye and Ear Hospital, to endow scholarships and support programs. Mr. Cook graduated from the university in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in English, and in 1960 with a master’s degree in education. Dr. Cole’s mother attended Longwood from 1926 to 1927.

Los Angeles Opera: $3.25-million from Marilyn Ziering, former senior vice president of Diagnostic Products, in Los Angeles, to produce a series of music performances by composers affected by the Holocaust, including Franz Schreker, Viktor Ullmann, Kurt Weill, and Alexander Zemlinsky.

Madisonville Community College (Ky.): $1-million from Brown Badgett Sr., founder and chief executive officer of Brown Badgett Enterprises, in Madisonville, to help build a new technology center.

Old Sturbridge Village (Mass.): $1-million challenge gift from an anonymous trustee to encourage donors to give to the annual fund.

Salisbury U. (Md.): $5.3-million bequest from Lucy Tull to endow scholarships for nursing and pre-medical students and for faculty development and equipment in the nursing department. Ms. Tull, who inherited her money, died last year at the age of 95.

San Diego Natural History Museum: $1-million from Irwin M. Jacobs, a co-founder and chairman of Qualcomm, a wireless-communications company in San Diego, and his wife, Joan, to support an exhibition of the Dead Sea scrolls and related artifacts.

Sharp HealthCare Foundation (San Diego): $1-million from L. Robert Payne, president of Multi-Ventures, a real-estate development and investment company in San Diego, and his wife, Patricia, for its capital campaign.

Southern Methodist U. (Dallas): $2-million bequest from Brady P. Gentry, a former U.S. representative from Texas, to endow scholarships. Mr. Gentry died in 1966 at the age of 70.

Stephens College (Columbia, Mo.): $3-million unrestricted gift from Carolyn Breitmeyer Boone, who owns an avocado farm in Escondido, Calif., and her late husband, Jack. Ms. Boone graduated from the college in 1947.

Summa Health System (Akron, Ohio): $3.8-million bequest from the estate of Florence Weaver, a librarian at BF Goodrich, in Richfield, Ohio, to support cardiac treatment and research at Akron City Hospital. Ms. Weaver’s late husband, Wilfred, underwent open-heart surgery at the hospital.

Temple U. (Philadelphia): $1-million pledge from Raza Bokhari, president of Lakewood Pathology Associates, in New Jersey, to support the Fox School of Business. Dr. Bokhari graduated from Temple in 2001 with a master’s degree in business administration.

Texas State U. (San Marcos): $5-million from Bruce Ingram, founder of Ingram ReadyMix, a concrete-product manufacturing company in New Braunfels, Tex., and his wife, Gloria, to establish a school of engineering.

Trillium Family Services (Portland, Ore.): $2-million from Dave Lowther and his wife, Penny, retired co-owners of Lowther Timber Farm, in Philomath, Ore., to renovate a building on its Children’s Farm Home campus in Corvallis, Ore.

U. of California at Los Angeles School of Law: $1.25-million from A. Barry Cappello, a managing partner at Cappello & Noël, a law firm in Los Angeles, and his wife, Lori, to endow academic programs and research. Mr. Cappello graduated from UCLA in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and from the law school in 1965.

U. of Missouri at Columbia: $2-million from Bruce Loewenberg, a cattle rancher in Pike County, Mo., to endow men’s basketball scholarships and to support a program at the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources to save wild tigers. Mr. Loewenberg graduated from the university in 1961 with a bachelor’s degree in forestry.

U. of Virginia (Charlottesville): $5-million pledge from Sheila C. Johnson, a co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, in Washington, to establish a center for human services at its Curry School of Education.

Weber State U. (Ogden, Utah): $2-million pledge from Martha Ann Dumke Healy, a granddaughter and heir of the late E.O. Wattis, a Utah industrialist, to support a premedical program.

Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle): $6-million from an anonymous donor to build a penguin exhibit and a new entrance to the park.

— Compiled by Anne W. Howard