Gifts Roundup: Texas Children’s Hospital and the Wharton School Each Land $50 Million

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

Texas Children’s Hospital

Lester and Sue Smith pledged $50 million for a new building to house the hospital’s heart, intensive-care, and surgery spaces and to support patient care and research.

Lester Smith, a wildcatter oilman, founded the Smith Energy Company. Sue Smith founded an interior-design company and ran it for 25 years. The Houston couple are competitive ballroom dancers who won the title of U.S. Grand Senior Latin Champions twice, once in 2002 and again in 2003.

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Marc and Carolyn Rowan gave $50 million to support the Penn Wharton Budget Model, the university’s economic-policy analysis program and to back three new professorships and a fellowship program.

Marc Rowan co-founded and is senior managing director of Apollo Global Management, a private-equity firm. He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance and an MBA from Wharton in 1984 and 1985, respectively, and currently serves as chairman of Wharton’s Board of Overseers.

Arizona State University

Mike and Cindy Watts donated $30 million for the public-service college, which will be named the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions.

The money will support scholarships, professorships (including one devoted to Native American issues), and student programs and establish the Maryvale Revitalization Corporation, an effort to help struggling families in the Phoenix neighborhood where the couple grew up.

The Wattses own Sunstate Equipment Company, a construction equipment-rental business they have run since 1977, when it was a small, lawn-mower rental company.

University of California at Los Angeles

Morton La Kretz gave $15 million to renovate of the campus’s Botany Building, which will be named for him.

La Kretz founded Crossroads Management, a real-estate development and property-management company. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the university in 1948. He gave $5 million n 2017 for the botany-building renovation.

Chicago Parks District

James and Andrea Gordon pledged $10 million to the nonprofit to support the Year of Chicago Theatre effort, which backs theater and cultural programs across Chicago.

The Gordons’ gift will primarily go toward the Theater on the Lake and the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks program, which are city-owned but have a nonprofit arm for contributions. It will pay for improvements to many of the district’s performance spaces and support the development of new works at theaters throughout the city.

James Gordon founded the private-equity firm Edgewater Funds.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Bill and Anne Harrison gave $10 million to endow two new senior-level leadership positions and support UNC Global, which incorporates a number of international programs and services.

Bill Harrison is a retired chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase. He graduated from the university in 1966. Anne Harrison is a 1978 UNC graduate who earned a bachelor’s degree in English.

Radford University

William and Sandra Davis gave $8 million to endow scholarships for students studying in the College of Business and Economics and in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. The business school will be named for the donors.

William Davis is a historian and retired professor of History at Virginia Tech and the former director of programs at the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies. He has written numerous books about the American Civil War.

Monroe Community College Foundation

Timothy and Robin Wentworth donated $4 million for student scholarships. The Wentworths graduated from the college in 1980.

Timothy Wentworth leads Express Scripts, a pharmacy management-services company and was the beneficiary of an Eastman Kodak scholarship when he attended the college.

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