Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Give $20 Million to Holocaust Studies

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

Florida Atlantic University

Kurt and Marilyn Wallach gave $20 million to create and endow the Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Institute for Holocaust and Jewish Studies, which will house Holocaust, human-rights, and Jewish studies education programs; interfaith and interethnic understanding programs, and efforts to deter hate, bias, and discrimination.

The Wallachs are managing partners for K&M Capital and general partners for Kurtell Growth Industries, a real-estate investment corporation in Vero Beach, Fla.

In 1933, 7-year-old Kurt Wallach and his family fled Magdeburg, Germany, after learning that the Nazis planned to assassinate Kurt’s father, Mark. The family eventually made their way to the United States and settled in Cleveland. Wallach joined the U.S. Navy in 1944 and served in Panama and the Pacific. He has written a number of books, including three textbooks on the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Illinois Institute of Technology

Wireless communications pioneers Martin Cooper and Arlene Harris donated $20 million to back a variety of efforts including student housing, academics, research, and recreational spaces.

Cooper was working for Motorola in 1973 when he invented the first handheld cellular mobile phone, went on to lead the company’s team that developed the phones for everyday use. Harris entered the mobile-phone business early in life. At age 12, she worked as a mobile telephone operator at her family’s business, ICS Communications, in Los Angeles, and later led the company’s systems and operations efforts to develop methods that became standard practice in the wireless industry.

Cooper and Harris founded the wireless communications company Dyna, in Del Mar, Calif., in 1986, and other related businesses. Cooper earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Illinois Tech in 1950 and 1957.

Dartmouth College

William and Sally Neukom donated $15.5 million to establish the Susan and James Wright Center for the Study of Computation and Just Communities. James Wright, a historian, served as president of Dartmouth from 1998 to 2009. Susan Wright served as assistant dean of the college.

William Neukom was general counsel and chief legal officer for Microsoft, and as chairman of Preston Gates & Ellis, a Seattle law firm that is now part of K&L Gates. He founded and leads the World Justice Project, a nonprofit that works to increase public awareness about the importance of the rule of law. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1964 and is a former managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants baseball team.

The Wright Center will focus on the advancement of democratic, equitable societies through the use of computational techniques. Using tools such as computer simulations, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and complex statistical analysis, the center’s programs will cover a broad range of topics, including the dynamics of surveillance and safety, the protection of free speech in the face of widespread misinformation, and the dangers and possibilities of image manipulation and creation.

Including this most recent gift, the Neukoms have given Dartmouth more than $45 million to back computational science.

California State University at Northridge

Milton and Deborah Valera pledged more than $11 million for a variety of programs, particularly scholarships that support students who have been part of the foster-care system, and others. The gift also endows the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts.

Milton Valera is chairman of the National Notary Association, which he has led since 1982. Earlier in his career, he founded a public- relations and marketing agency. He graduated from the university in 1968. Deborah Valera currently serves as executive director of the National Notary Foundation. She served as executive director of the association for 23 years.

Loyola University Maryland

James and Anna Lambdin pledged $6.3 million to back fellowships for graduate students in the Sellinger School of Business and Management and financial aid for graduate students in the speech-language-hearing sciences department in Loyola College of Arts and Sciences.

The Lambdins also gave $100,000 to establish and endow the Anna and Jim Lambdin Fellowship Fund, which will provide fellowship assistance to graduate students enrolled in the Sellinger School of Business and Management.

James Lambdin is president and CEO of Lambdin Development Company, a real-estate development company in Bel Air, Md. He earned a master’s degree in finance from Loyola in 1983 and served as vice president of First National Bank of Maryland (which would later become M&T Bank) from 1978 to 1987.

Towson University

Fran Soistman Jr. donated $5.3 million to support athletics, the College of Health Professions, the College of Business and Economics, and programs aimed at advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Soistman founded Healthcare Management and Transformation Advisory Services, in Germantown, Md. He retired as CVS Health-Aetna’s executive vice president and president of government services in 2019. Earlier in his career, he served as president and CEO of HealthAmerica. He graduated from the university in 1979.

Museum of Science & History

Billionaire Shahid Khan pledged $5 million to help the museum’s new facility in downtown Jacksonville, Fla.

Kahn owns Flex-N-Gate, an auto-parts supplier company and the Jacksonville Jaguars professional football team. He also owns Fulham football club, an English soccer team, and co-owns with his son, Tony, All Elite Wrestling, a wrestling entertainment company.

He helped finance Black News Channel, a 24-hour cable news channel, created earlier this year. Forbes pegged his wealth at nearly $8 billion.

University of Missouri

Patrick and Sandy Hiatte pledged $5 million to be split equally between the School of Journalism and the Mizzou Botanic Garden.

Before retiring in 2009, Patrick Hiatte served as general director of corporate communications at BNSF Railway Company, a freight railroad network with headquarters in Fort Worth, Tex. He graduated from the university’s School of Journalism in 1973 and worked for BNSF for 35 years. Sandy Hiatte graduated from the university with a degree in social work.

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