Gifts Roundup: 2 Big Universities Receive Pledges, and George Clooney Gives $1 Million

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by The Chronicle:

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Larry and Beth Gies gave $150 million for the College of Business, which will be renamed for them. The money will go toward new graduate programs and technology efforts.

Mr. Gies founded the private-equity firm Madison Industries. He and Ms. Gies are alumni.

University of Notre Dame

Kenneth and Pamela Ricci pledged $100 million and placed no restrictions on how the university uses the money.

The commitment is structured in such a way that when Mr. Ricci dies, Notre Dame will receive rights to a limited partnership and will hold a controlling interest in Directional Aviation Capital, the holding company Mr. Ricci founded. The university will then be responsible for the valuation, liquidation, and distribution of the partnership’s assets, and the proceeds will be used to pay off the pledge.

Mr. Ricci graduated from the university in 1978 and serves on Notre Dame’s Board of Trustees.

Milwaukee School of Engineering

Dwight and Dian Diercks gave $34 million for a new academic building that will be named the Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall.

Mr. Diercks is senior vice president at NVIDIA, a company specializing in artificial intelligence, supercomputing, and visual computing. He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering at the school in 1990.

University of Wisconsin at Madison

Ted and Mary Kellner committed $25 million toward the university’s capital campaign, which they co-chair.

Mr. Kellner co-founded Fiduciary Management, an investment management firm in Milwaukee. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business from the university in 1969.

Ms. Kellner earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the university in 1968, and a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from UW–Milwaukee in 1978. She is a former teacher, guidance counselor, and coordinator of school-based programs to prevent drug and alcohol abuse.

Jewish Community Center Manhattan

The Meyerson family gave $20 million through their family foundation. The organization will be renamed Marlene Meyerson Jewish Community Center, for the family’s late matriarch.

Ms. Meyerson was a philanthropist who worked in real estate in Dallas. After she retired, she split her time between New York and Santa Fe, N.M. She died in January.

University of Denver

Dennis Law and his mother, Loretta Law, donated $20 million to establish and endow the Joseph and Loretta Law Institute of Arts and Technology.

Dennis Law is a retired vascular surgeon and businessman. His late father, Joseph Law, was a plastics manufacturer and an advocate for improving workplace standards in China. He died in 2015.

Philadelphia Foundation

Mel Heifetz gave cash and real estate valued at $16 million to expand the GLBT Fund of America, a donor-advised fund he established in 2007.

The DAF supports civil-rights efforts, social-justice programs, and health care for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people in Philadelphia.

Mr. Heifetz is a real-estate investor and longtime supporter of gay rights causes around the country.

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian

Richard Pickup and his family donated $15 million through their foundation for the medical center’s neurosciences institute, which will be renamed the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute.

Mr. Pickup owns Balboa Bay Resort and Newport Beach Country Club, in Orange County, Calif. He said in a news release that the recent loss of a family member to Alzheimer’s disease was part of what inspired the donation.

Queens University

Sarah Belk Gambrell gave $10 million through her Gambrell Foundation to renovate the university’s fine arts building, which will be renamed for her.

Ms. Gambrell is a retired director of the Belk-Simpson Group and led various Belk companies throughout the years. The department-store chain was founded by her late parents, William and Mary Belk.

The Sentry

Actor George Clooney donated $1 million through his Clooney Foundation for Justice for the investigative nonprofit group’s fundraising campaign.

The money will help increase the organization’s production of dossiers focused on war criminals in Africa and their financial networks.

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