Drake University Receives $50-Million to Support Campaign; Other Gifts

Drake University in Des Moines has received $50-million from Dwight D. Opperman, former chairman of West Publishing and a 1951 graduate of the university’s law school.

His gift is the cornerstone of a recently announced $190-million campaign that will endow scholarships, libraries, academic programs, and faculty-development opportunities.

Mr. Opperman was chairman and chief executive officer at West Publishing when it was acquired in 1996 by the Thomson Corporation. He now runs Key Investments, a Minneapolis-based company.

* Indiana University’s School of Business has received gifts and pledges estimated at $25-million from the restaurateur E. W. Kelley, chairman of Consolidated Products in Indianapolis.

The gifts will provide scholarships for students at the school’s campus in Bloomington.

Mr. Kelley has promised an annual gift of $300,000 to pay the tuition, room, and board for 40 undergraduates each year. He has also established a charitable remainder trust that, upon his death, will pay for 60 scholarships annually and also will set up a dean’s discretionary fund.

The university has named the business school after Mr. Kelley, who is a 1939 alumnus. The first 10 students in the Kelley Scholars Program will begin classes in 1998.

* Harvard University has received $21-million from Albert J. Weatherhead III, his wife, Celia, and his family foundation in Cleveland, to strengthen international-studies programs.

Mr. Weatherhead owns Weatherhead Industries, a plastics-manufacturing company based in Cleveland.

* The Smithsonian Institution in Washington has received $20-million from the real-estate magnate Kenneth E. Behring for improvements to the National Museum of Natural History.

The gift will renovate the museum’s rotunda, create new dioramas and interactive exhibits for the Hall of Mammals, and support two new traveling programs: “Mammals on the Move,” which will stop at malls, libraries, and community centers, and “Mammals in the School,” which, the museum estimates, will reach 300,000 students each year.

The first exhibitions are slated to go on the road in early 1999. The museum hopes to have the new Hall of Mammals finished by fall 2000, and renovations of the rotunda are scheduled for completion in spring of 1999.

Mr. Behring founded Blackhawk Corporation, a real-estate-development company based in Danville, Cal.

Other recent gifts:

Adrian College (Mich.): Bequests totaling $4,000,000 from the estates of Van Darsey of Detroit, former president of Parker Rust Proof Company, and his wife, Lorraine, for scholarships.

Alverno College (Wis.): $6,000,000 from John Morgridge of Portola Valley, Cal., chairman of Cisco Systems, and his wife, Tashia, to construct a technology center. The donation must be matched dollar for dollar from other sources.

American Graduate School of International Management-Thunderbird Campus (Ariz.): $4,000,000 from an anonymous donor for the capital campaign.

Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall: $6,000,000 from Samuel Frankel of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., a real-estate developer, and his wife, Jean; $5,000,000 from Max M. Fisher of Franklin, Mich., a retired financier; $2,000,000 from Shirley Schlafer of Bloomfield Hills; $1,600,000 from David Handleman of Bloomfield Hills, chairman of the Handleman Company, which distributes entertainment-related products, and his wife, Marion; and $1,000,000 from Peter Cummings of Bloomfield Hills, a real-estate developer, and his wife, Julie. All gifts are unrestricted.

Eastern Kentucky U.: $1,000,000 from Robert B. Morgan of Cincinnati, president and chief executive officer of Cincinnati Financial Corporation, to endow a chair in insurance studies.

Furman U. (S.C.): $1,700,000 bequest from the estate of Rose Forgione of Sands Point, N.Y., a retired professor of pediatric nursing at the U. of Vermont, for unrestricted use.

Hillsdale College (Mich.): $1,150,000 from William E. Simon of Morristown, N.J., a banker, businessman, and a former Secretary of the U. S. Treasury, to endow a professorship in economics and public policy and for scholarships.

The Johns Hopkins U. (Md.): $2,000,000 from an anonymous donor for scholarships in the School of Continuing Studies; $1,100,000 bequest from the estate of Dorothy Lampen Thomson of Yonkers, N.Y., a retired professor of economics at City U. of New York Herbert H. Lehman College, for unrestricted use at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences; and $1,000,000 from Mark Rubenstein of Philadelphia, president of the Rubenstein Company, a property-management company, and his wife, Barbara, for the Whiting School of Engineering.

Johnson & Wales U. (R.I.): $1,000,000 from Alan Shawn Feinstein of Cranston, R.I., a financial adviser and newsletter publisher, for scholarships.

Kansas Newman College: $4,100,000 from the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, an international order of nuns with a province in Wichita, Kan., to construct a fine-arts center. The gift comes from the leasing and eventual sale of a hospital to Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation.

Mankato State U. (Minn.): $8,000,000 from Glen Taylor of Mankato, Minn., chairman of the holding company Taylor Corporation and owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves basketball franchise, to construct a building that will include a welcome center, admissions offices, and an arena.

Miami U. (Ohio): $6,500,000 bequest from the estate of Arretha Cornell Sheriff of Dayton, Ohio, a former residential adviser at the university, for unrestricted use.

Muhlenberg College (Pa.): $6,500,000 from an anonymous donor to expand the Center for the Arts, to construct an academic building, and to renovate and improve athletics fields and facilities. The donor has promised an additional $1,000,000 if $13,000,000 is raised from other sources.

Nashville Symphony: $5,500,000 from an anonymous donor for endowment and for an “artistic excellence” fund. The gift must be matched dollar for dollar from other sources.

The Peddie School (N.J.): $1,500,000 from Ian H. Graham of Beverly Hills, Cal., president of an insurance company that bears his name, and his wife, Ellen, for the school’s endowment.

Renbrook School (Conn.): $1,000,000 from Harry Gray of Farmington, Conn., retired chief executive officer of United Technologies Corporation, and his wife, Helen, for capital improvements. Renbrook is a day school for children aged 3 to 15.

Rhode Island School of Design: $1,500,000 from Leonard Granoff of Providence, R.I., an investor and former president of American Tourister, and his wife, Paula, to endow the Museum of Art’s European galleries.

Schreiner College (Tex.): $6,000,000 from the family of Floyd Cailloux of Kerrville, Tex., former chairman of Keystone International, a manufacturer of flow-control equipment, to construct a campus-activity center.

Southern Methodist U. (Tex.): $1,000,000 from Jack H. Hamilton of Dallas, former president of Teledyne Geotech, to endow a program in geophysics for visiting scholars.

Trevecca Nazarene U. (Tenn.): $1,250,000 from an anonymous donor to acquire property and to construct a new entrance, and $1,100,000 from William Graves of Birmingham, Ala., retired owner of Torchmark Industries, and his wife, Jean, for the capital campaign.

U. of Louisville (Ky.): $1,000,000 from Malcolm B. Chancey, Jr., of Louisville, retired chairman of the former Liberty National Bank, to endow fellowships in engineering and business.