Denver Bankers Give Local Science Museum $20 Million

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Donald and Susan Sturm gave $20 million through their Sturm Family Foundation to renovate the museum’s theater, east wing, and outdoor spaces as part of an effort to expand the museum’s ability to develop new education and community programs.

Together the Sturms founded the Sturm Financial Group, a holding company in Denver, and they own ANB Bank. Donald Sturm serves and chairman of the bank and holding company, and Susan Sturm is chief financial officer and vice chairman.

He worked as a trial attorney for the Internal Revenue Service before joining Peter Kiewit Sons as tax counsel in 1963. He later served as chief financial officer, and then vice chairman before leaving the construction giant in 1991. She worked as an intelligence officer for the Central Intelligence Agency early in her career and then joined the management consulting firm, Booz, Allen & Hamilton before she and her husband launched the family’s banking business.

Howard University College of Medicine

MacKenzie Scott gave $12 million through her Yield Giving fund. The gift is unrestricted, and officials at the medical school said in a news release that they plan to use the money to establish a center in collaboration with the College of Engineering and Architecture that will provide programs for medical and engineering students to learn about medical technology and work together to develop new medical devices.

Scott is a novelist who has given more than $16 billion to nearly 2,000 nonprofits over the past three years. Her estimated $41.5 billion fortune comes from stock she holds in the online retailing giant Amazon, which she helped found with her former husband Jeff Bezos nearly 30 years ago.

Merion Mercy Academy

Lorie and Nick Howley gave $9.1 million through the Howley Foundation to support scholarships and establish the Howley Center for Applied Biological and Health Sciences and the Howley Academic Center for Excellence.

Nick Howley founded and serves as executive chairman of TransDigm Group, a Cleveland company that designs and manufactures engineered aerospace components and systems. Lori Howley is a horticulturalist who for 15 years developed and taught postsecondary and continuing-education courses at Longwood Gardens, a botanical garden in Kennett Square, Pa.

Nick Howley’s sisters, Beth Howley Krieger, Kathy Charamella, and Mary Anne Keith graduated from the Merion Station, Pa., private school in 1976, 1980, and 1982 respectively.

Ballet Arizona

Amy Barmeier Dru left $2 million to the ballet company for endowment. Company officials said in a news release that the bequest will increase Ballet Arizona’s endowment by more than 30 percent. Over time, the money will help to support the creation of new works and live music accompaniment, as well as expand the ballet troupe’s education and community programs.

Barmeier Dru was a psychologist by training who ended up managing her and her late husband Stanley Dru’s commercial real-estate holdings. Barmeier Dru was a devoted equestrian and tap dancer. She died in 2021 at 70 after a long battle with lymphoma.

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