Gifts Roundup: Montana State University Lands $12 Million for American Indian Hall

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

Montana State University

Diana Blank pledged $12 million through her foundation, the Kendeda Fund, for the new American Indian Hall. The building will house the university’s American Indian Student Center and the Department of Native American Studies. It is scheduled to open in 2021.

Blank is the former wife of Arthur Blank, who co-founded the home-improvement retailer Home Depot. Diana Blank created her foundation in 1993.

Saint Peter’s University

Joseph Panepinto donated $10 million to develop the university’s West Campus area.

Panepinto is a lawyer who founded Panepinto Properties, a real-estate development firm. He graduated from the university in 1966 and serves on its Board of Trustees.

Albion College

James and Lisa Wilson gave $5.1 million to establish the Wilson Institute for Medicine, a center for undergraduate education for students who want to go on to medical school or work in other areas of health care and medicine.

James Wilson is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, where he directs the gene-therapy program. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1977 before receiving an M.D. and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.

Lisa Wilson earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and management from Albion in 1979 and worked in hospital administration for a number of years.

West Virginia University

Emil Czul left $4 million to create two endowed full scholarships that will be awarded each calendar year to financially needy students from Oak Hill High School, which he attended, and from elsewhere in Fayette County.

Czul, who died in 2017, earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the university in 1960 and worked for the U.S. government in Virginia for many years before retiring in 1988 and moving to Kissimmee, Fla.

Cedarville University

Charlotte Kuriger bequeathed $3.1 million, the bulk of her estate, to establish the Roger and Charlotte Kuriger Scholarship Fund, which will support the graduate nursing program and the undergraduate program in accounting.

Kuriger, who worked as a secretary for Simmons Perrine, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, law firm, died earlier this year at the age of 96. She was the widow of Roger Kuriger, an accountant with Crandic, a Cedar Rapids railroad company, who died in 2010.

Washington State University

Bernadine Seabrandt left $2.2 million to create the Bernadine Fulfs Seabrandt Graduate Fellowship in Molecular Biosciences at the School of Molecular Biosciences.

Seabrandt, who died in 2015, retired as chief microbiologist at Deaconess Hospital, in Spokane, in 1974. She earned a bachelor of science in medical technology from the university in 1941 and a master of science from what is now the School of Molecular Biosciences, in 1954.

Her later husband, Jim Seabrandt, also earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the university in 1955 and 1958, respectively. He died in 1995.

Cleveland Institute of Music

Clive Hamlin donated $1.5 million for a scholarship providing full tuition plus room, board, and fees for an exceptional student.

Hamlin is an emeritus associate professor in the department of pathology and director of the immunology training program at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

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