McDonald’s Heiress Leaves $80-Million to Two Charities; Other New Gifts

Three organizations have announced large gifts, two of them bequests from Joan B. Kroc, the widow of Ray A. Kroc, founder of McDonald’s Corporation:

• Ronald McDonald House Charities, in Oak Brook, Ill., is the beneficiary of a $60-million bequest from Mrs. Kroc for its programs worldwide that serve the families of critically ill children.
• The San Diego Hospice is the recipient of a $20-million bequest.

Other nonprofit organizations have received bequests totaling $315-million from Mrs. Kroc, who died in October 2003. Mrs. Kroc’s $200-million bequest to National Public Radio made her the top donor on The Chronicle‘s list of the biggest gifts announced in 2003.

• The University of California at Irvine has received $20-million from an anonymous donor for its School of Information and Computer Science. Most of the gift, $18-million, is committed to an endowment to recruit and support faculty members. The remainder will endow a fund for research and other programs.

Other recent gifts:

Abbott Northwestern Hospital (Minneapolis): $3,225,000 from Judy Dayton and her husband, Kenneth, former chief executive officer of Dayton Hudson Corporation, now the Target Corporation (Minneapolis), to construct a cardiac-care hospital.

Children’s Health Fund (New York): $1-million from the musicians Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel for the fund’s national programs for poor and homeless children, and to support a fund-administered program on pediatric preparedness for disasters and other emergencies at Columbia U.’s School of Public Health (New York). Mr. Simon co-founded the organization in 1987.

CIDA City Campus (Johannesburg): $1-million from the talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, of Chicago, for a residence hall at this institution that provides business, finance, and leadership training to disadvantaged African students.

Cleveland Clinic: $5-million from John J. Ferchill, chief executive officer of the Ferchill Group (Cleveland), and his family, to create a center for biomedical innovation and technology.

Cornell U. (Ithaca, N.Y.): $5-million from Samuel C. Johnson, chairman emeritus of S.C. Johnson and Son (Racine, Wis.) and an alumnus, to support a professorship in sustainable development at the Graduate School of Management.

The Lymphoma Research Foundation (New York): $12.8-million from an anonymous donor to support 18 research grants to institutions working to find a cure for mantle-cell lymphoma.

Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.): $5-million from the family of Pauline Phillips, the advice columnist known as Abigail Van Buren, or “Dear Abby,” and $5-million from an anonymous donor. Both gifts will support research on Alzheimer’s disease.

National Museum of American Jewish History (Philadelphia): $5-million from Ed Snider, chairman of Comcast-Spectacor (Philadelphia), to construct a building.

North Country School and Camp Treetops (Lake Placid, N.Y.): $2-million from an anonymous donor to support endowments for camp scholarships, capital improvements, and faculty members.

Peninsula Open Space Trust (Menlo Park, Calif.): $3-million bequest from Fred J. Kamphoefner, who was a retired employee of the Stanford Research Institute (Menlo Park), to preserve open space on California’s San Mateo Coast.

Rochester College (Rochester Hills, Mich.): $3-million from Patricia Richardson and her husband, David, an alumnus and chief executive officer of Richardson-Eagle (Arlington, Tex.), to construct a building for classrooms, administrative offices, and other facilities.

Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, Calif.): $3-million from an anonymous donor to establish a center for research on alcoholism and addiction.

St. Edwards U. (Austin, Tex.): $7.5-million bequest from John Brooks Williams, owner of Markle Steel Company (Houston), to create a natural-sciences center.

U. of California at Irvine: $1-million from Vivian Thorp and her husband, Edward, a former professor of mathematics at the university and president of Edward O. Thorp and Associates (Newport Beach, Calif.), for an endowment in the mathematics department.

U. of Hartford (Conn.): $2-million from Suzy Reich and her husband, Tom, former president of the Underwriter’s Service Agency (Hartford), to plan and construct athletic fields.

Waldorf College (Forest City, Iowa): $5.5-million from Janet Anderson and her husband, Bradbury, chief executive officer of Best Buy (Minneapolis) and an alumnus, for academic and student programs, faculty support, and student scholarships.