Levi Strauss Heir Gives UC Berkeley $24 Million for Diverse and First-Generation Students (Gifts Roundup)

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

Pacific Neuroscience Institute

William and Carolyn Singleton gave $40 million to support the Brain Health Center at Providence Saint John’s Health Center efforts to develop new treatments for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related memory and cognition disorders.

William Singleton is a former software engineer who today manages Singleton Ranches, a land and cattle business. Carolyn Singleton is a former homebuilder and leads the Singleton Foundation for Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship, in Santa Monica, Calif.

University of California at Berkeley

Robert and Colleen Haas donated $24 million for undergraduate scholarships. Of the total, $14 million will endow the Haas Scholars Program, which supports students from diverse backgrounds working on a yearlong senior research project; and $10 million will be used to match gifts from other donors to the Haas Family Fiat Lux Scholarship, which helps low-income first-generation college students.

Robert Haas, who graduated from Berkeley in 1964, is chairman emeritus of Levi Strauss & Company and an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune. His father, Walter A. Haas Jr. (a 1937 Berkeley graduate), led the clothing company from 1958 through 1981, and in 1853 his great-great-grand uncle, Levi Strauss, founded what was then a dry-goods wholesaler in San Francisco.

The family has a long history of giving to the university, going back to its first gift in 1897, when Levi Strauss personally matched funds allocated by the California legislature to establish the University of California’s first student scholarships. To this day, 28 of those scholarships are still awarded to students with financial need.

Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas

Rachel Segal pledged $17 million to help pay for the construction of the David A. Segal Family Aquatic Center, which will open next year and is named for the donor’s late husband.

David Segal was chairman and chief executive officer of EXX Inc., a Las Vegas holding company with interests in mechanical equipment and plastics and rubber. He died in 2016. Rachel and David Segal’s sons, Alex and Max, graduated from the private school in 2018 and 2020, respectively.

High Point University

Elizabeth (Betty) Miller Strickland gave $12 million to endow and establish the Elizabeth Miller Strickland Women’s Leadership Fund and the Elizabeth Miller Strickland Endowed Scholarship Fund.

The Women’s Leadership Fund will provide mentorship and other opportunities for young women, and its leadership council will develop seminars and programs focused on issues relevant to women in business, leadership, and entrepreneurship, especially as they relate to overcoming barriers women face throughout their careers.

Strickland attended High Point College in the 1950s. Her late husband, Robert Strickland, worked for the bigbox home-improvement company Lowes for 40 years, retiring as chairman in 1997. He died in 2018.

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Niles and Nancy Noblitt donated $10 million for student aid. Niles Noblitt graduated from Rose-Hulman with a degree in biological engineering in 1973 and currently serves as chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees.

He co-founded Biomet, a Warsaw, Ind., biomedical-device company now known as Zimmer Biomet. He retired from the company in 2007.

University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy

Wilbur (Wil) Smith gave $10 million to create the USC Price Wilbur H. Smith III Department of Real Estate Development and back student scholarships and a summer research fund for faculty.

Smith founded Greenlaw Partners, a commercial real-estate firm in Irvine, Calif., that he named for his grandfather Greenlaw Grupe Sr., who was known for real-estate development projects and large planned communities in Stockton, Calif. Smith graduated from the Price School’s master’s program in real-estate development in 1999.

Purpose Preparatory Academy

Professional athlete Jalen Ramsey donated $1 million to the Nashville charter school so it can buy more computers, software, and other essential distance-learning technology for students who might not be able to afford it. The school serves students in kindergarten through the fourth grade and emphasizes identity affirmation and positive character development.

Ramsey is a professional football player who is a cornerback for the Los Angeles Rams. He grew up in Nashville.

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