Gifts Roundup: Cleveland Orchestra Gets $9 Million; NBA Star Chris Paul Gives Wake Forest $2.5 Million

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

Cleveland Orchestra

Jean Hower Taber left $9.3 million for operations, programs, and other uses.

Taber, who died last year, was the great-granddaughter of John Hower, one of the founders of the Quaker Oats Company, which was originally based in Akron, Ohio. She was a long-time supporter of the orchestra.

In addition, the organization received approximately $500,000 from a charitable gift annuity that Taber established with the orchestra in 2001.

University of North Carolina at Asheville

Sally Birge bequeathed $2.5 million to endow scholarships and other financial-aid programs.

Birge worked as a real-estate agent in Pasadena, Calif. She was not an alum but was born in Asheville. She died last year.

Wake Forest University

Chris Paul donated $2.5 million to support the university’s basketball programs.

Paul is a professional basketball player now with the Houston Rockets. He was a student at the university and played basketball there from 2003 to 2005.

Great Plains Zoo and Delbridge Museum of Natural History

Billionaire Denny Sanford gave $1 million through his T. Denny Sanford Foundation to help build a lion exhibit.

Sanford owns First Premier Bank and Premier Bankcard, which provide credit cards to high-risk borrowers. He is a prolific donor and has appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the most generous donors eight times since 2005. In June, he gave $100 million to expand an education program for children.

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