Gifts Roundup: Seth MacFarlane Gives $2.5 Million for Public Radio; U. of Tenn. Campus Lands $40 million

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Gary and Kathleen Rollins donated $40 millionfor the College of Business.

The college will be renamed for Gary Rollins, the chief executive of Rollins Inc., a holding corporation that owns a number of pest-control companies. He graduated from the Chattanooga campus in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in business.

Kalamazoo College

Jon Stryker gave $20 million to establish the Jon L. Stryker Future Leaders Scholarship Program, which will provide $2 million in scholarships annually for the next 10 years.

The program will primarily support students of color, first-generation college attendees, and students from low-income families.

Stryker, a 1982 Kalamazoo graduate, is an architect and heir to the Stryker Corporation fortune. The medical-products company was founded by his grandfather, Homer Stryker, a surgeon and inventor. Jon Stryker has appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the most-generous donors eight times since 2006.

Iona College

Robert LaPenta donated $17.5 million to expand and renovate the School of Business. The redesigned main building is scheduled to open in time for the spring semester of the 2019-20 academic year.

LaPenta retired as president and chief financial officer of L-3 Communications in 2005. He co-founded the company. which provides intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems; secure communications; aircraft modernization; and training and government services to the defense industry. He graduated from Iona in 1967.

University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine

Daniel and Phyllis Epstein gave $10 million through their foundation to the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. The donation will fund research, education, and treatment programs in the newly named Epstein Family Center for Sports Medicine.

Daniel Epstein founded ConAm Management Corporation, a national property-management business. He earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering in 1962.

University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Martin Jacobson pledged nearly $5.6 million for the athletic department, officials of which plan to name the university football team’s facility the Martin Jacobson Football Performance Center.

Jacobson founded the sports-apparel company Nutmeg Industries with his brother Richard. Nutmeg created upscale sportswear and had licensing agreements with the four major professional U.S. sports leagues. The brothers sold the company in 1994 to VF Corporation for $350 million.

Martin Jacobson graduated from the university in 1968, and he and his brother gave the institution $2.5 million in 2013 for improvements to its Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium.

Temple University

Brook Lenfest gave $4 million through his Brook J. Lenfest Foundation for scholarships that will primarily go to students who graduate from Mastery Charter Schools or participate in the Philadelphia Futures program.

Lenfest helped found Mastery Charter Schools with a lead gift back in 2001. Philadelphia Futures is a nonprofit that assists low-income college students who are in the first generation of their family to attend college. Students who graduated from a public high school in the School District of Philadelphia are also eligible for the scholarships.

Lenfest is a real-estate investor and the chairman of NetCarrier Inc., a telecommunications company. He is the youngest child of Philadelphia-area philanthropists Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest, who have appeared on the Philanthropy 50 nine times since 2000.

Azusa Pacific University

Steven and Susie Perry donated $3 million through their Sacred Harvest Foundation to expand the university’s doctoral program in physical therapy.

Steven Perry is a retired Lutheran pastor who co-founded the California office of the National Christian Foundation, which offers donor-advised funds and other giving-related services for Christian donors.

The Perrys met at Azusa and both graduated from the university in 1975. Their children, Jenny and Matthew, graduated from Azusa in 2003 and 2010, respectively.

National Public Radio

Actor and writer Seth MacFarlane gave $2 million to support the broadcaster’s Collaborative Journalism Network, an effort to connect NPR’s nearly 1,800 journalists around the world so they can share resources and partner more efficiently with one another on news stories.

MacFarlane also gave $500,000 to NPR’s Los Angeles member station, KPCC, to help the station raise money from other donors. He is the creator of the television series Family Guy and wrote, directed, and appeared in the films Ted and Ted 2.

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