Gifts Roundup: Eye Hospital Lands $5 Million; L.A. Music Group Gets $1 Million
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
July 9, 2018 | Read Time: 2 minutes
A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:
Wills Eye Hospital
Vickie and Jack Farber gave $5 million to establish the Vickie and Jack Farber Vision Research Center at Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia.
The money will be used for new research programs in data mining and analytics, tele-ophthalmology, expanded community-based research, and the creation of a clinical-trials unit.
Jack Farber is a retired chairman of CSS Industries, a Philadelphia company that designs, manufactures, and sells seasonal and educational products to mass-market retailers.
University of Kansas Health System
Cloud (Bud) Cray, Jr., donated $2 million to support the cardiomyopathy and heart-failure program, and the cardio-oncology program.
Cray is chairman emeritus of the Cray family’s 77-year old company, MGP Ingredients, a supplier of distilled spirits and specialty wheat proteins and starches.
He said he gave the gift to honor his late wife, Sally Cray, who died in 2011. The Cray family have been patients of Charles Porter, a cardiologist at the university.
California State University at Dominguez Hills
Lyman Chaffee left more than $1.7 million to establish the L.G. Chaffee Endowed Chair of Global and Comparative Politics, the first endowed chair position in the university’s history.
Chaffee started teaching at the university in 1969 as a member of the Department of Political Science and served as department chairman for several years. He retired in 2005 and died in April. Some of the bequest will also be used to endow a scholarship for political science majors to study abroad, and to support the Del Amo Scholarship, which provides students with financial aid to study in Spain. About $100,000 will go to the Office of International Education.
Los Angeles Master Chorale
David and Kiki Gindler pledged $1 million to support the commissioning and programming of new works and other efforts.
The Gindlers are both lawyers. He recently stepped down as chairman of the Master Chorale’s board of directors.
The couple gave the chorale $1 million in 2012 to establish the Artistic Director’s Circle, a group of supporters who donate $50,000 or more to the organization to support core programming.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated throughout the week.
