Gifts Roundup: 6 Universities Get a Total of $90 Million

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

Miami University

David Dafoe pledged $30.1 million to the Ohio campus’s College of Arts and Science to provide scholarships for high-need students.

Dafoe graduated from the university in 1984 with a degree in zoology and went on to found the Louisville-based company Flavorman, which develops beverages.

Henry Ford Health System

An anonymous donor gave $20 million to create the Henry Ford Pancreatic Cancer Center, which will focus on global collaborations to develop new methods for early detection of pancreatic cancer.

Part of the gift will go toward establishing a global research consortium focused on early detection, data analytics, translational research, precision medicine, and clinical trials. The donation will also endow a director’s fund to support major hires for the new center, including a pancreatic-cancer clinical leader and a research leader.

New York University School of Law

Former New Jersey lawmaker Frank Guarini gave $20 million to create the Guarini Institute for Global Legal Studies.

The money will bolster the school’s international law programs by backing international fellowships, conferences and lectures, a study-abroad program, and other efforts.

Guarini, who built his fortune as a real-estate investor, earned J.D. and LL.M. degrees from the N.Y.U. law school in 1950 and 1955, respectively. He served in the New Jersey State Senate from 1965 to 1972 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 to 1993.

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Bob and Corrine Frick donated $18 million to establish the Bob and Corrine Frick Center for Heart Failure and Arrhythmia at the Ohio State Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital.

The Fricks founded Roosters, a restaurant chain headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

Their gift is personal: Bob Frick suffered a heart attack when he was 40, and 11 years later he had triple bypass surgery. He was treated at the Ross hospital. His daughter, both of his parents, and several other members of his family have faced heart disease.

Arkansas State University

Neil Griffin gave $10 million to the College of Business to endow a range of scholarships and professorships and support operations within the college, which will be renamed for the donor.

Griffin is a retired banker. He led two publicly held corporations and was a partner with Eastman Dillon, Union Securities & Company, now a part of UBS.

He graduated from Arkansas State in 1948 with a business degree.

Saint Louis University School of Nursing

Mary Hoppe left $8.4 million to create the Dr. and Mrs. Robert C. Hoppe Endowed Scholarship, which will aid students in every program offered at the nursing school.

Hoppe and her husband were 1951 graduates of the university, she from the School of Nursing and he from the School of Medicine. After graduation they married and returned to Houston, their hometown. Robert Hoppe died in 2002, and Mary Hoppe died in 2017.

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

William Lauder pledged $4 million to endow the William P. Lauder Wharton Leadership Fellows Program.

Lauder serves as executive chairman of Estée Lauder Companies, the cosmetics firm founded by his grandmother, Estée Lauder. He graduated from Wharton in 1983 and is a member of the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees.

He has been closely involved with the business school for many years and created and teaches a course there called Decision Making in the Leadership Chair.

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