New York Public Library, Smithsonian Each Get $25-Million; Other Gifts

Seven organizations have received large gifts:

• The New York Public Library has received $25-million from Robert W. Wilson, a financier who lives in New York. The gift will enable the library to acquire new materials, catalog archival collections at its Library for the Performing Arts, preserve books and other materials, and develop technology to improve its online catalog and other resources.
• The Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, has received $25-million from Robert and Arlene Kogod to renovate a historic building that houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and its National Portrait Gallery. Mr. Kogod is a principal at the Charles E. Smith Realty Companies, in Arlington, Va.
• Mark A. Stevens, a partner at Sequoia Capital, in Menlo Park, Calif., and his wife, Mary, have donated $22-million to the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, to endow an institute for technology commercialization at the engineering school. Mr. Stevens, who received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the university, serves as a trustee.
• Norwich Free Academy Foundation, in Norwich, Conn., has received $12-million for its endowment from Sidney E. Frank, a 1938 graduate of the school. Mr. Frank is chairman and founder of Sidney Frank Importing Company, in New York.
• The Heritage Foundation, in Washington, has received $10-million from Douglas and Sarah Allison, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., to establish a center for foreign-policy studies. Mr. Allison recently retired as chief executive officer of Allison-Fisher International, an automotive marketing-research and consulting firm that has offices in Southfield, Mich., and is a trustee at Heritage.
• Iowa State University, in Ames, has received $10-million from Gerald A. and Karen A. Kolschowsky for a program in its College of Agriculture that helps developing countries combat hunger and poverty in rural regions. Mr. Kolschowsky, a 1962 graduate of the university, is retired chairman and chief executive officer of the OSI Group, a company in Aurora, Ill., that processes meat, poultry, and other food products.
• L. Austin Weeks has donated $10-million to the South Miami Hospital Foundation for a new clinical area at the hospital, an outpatient clinic, and efforts to educate doctors and the public about heart-rhythm disturbances and their treatment. Mr. Weeks is a retired petroleum geologist and businessman who lives in Miami.

Other recent gifts:

Austin College (Sherman, Tex.): $1-million from Dennis Gonier, senior vice president of America Online, in Dulles, Va., for the college’s capital campaign, scholarships, Internet services for college alumni, and other programs; $1-million from William E. Warren, president of W.E. Warren Properties, and his wife, Beverly, of Plano, Tex., to endow a professorship in chemistry; and $1-million from an anonymous donor to support scholarships and campus landscaping projects.

Dickinson College (Carlisle, Pa.): $3-million unrestricted gift from Inge and John Stafford, of Essex Fells, N.J. Ms. Stafford serves as vice chair of the college’s Board of Trustees, and Mr. Stafford is retired chief executive officer of American Home Products International, now Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, in Madison, N.J.

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (New York): $5-million from Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson for a construction and development project at the Cincinnati campus. The Mayersons work in real-estate development and management in Cincinnati.

Ideastream and the Playhouse Square Foundation (Cleveland): $1-million from Peter B. Lewis, president of Progressive Insurance, in Cleveland, for the Idea Center at Playhouse Square, an education and arts facility.

The Johns Hopkins U. (Baltimore): $5.8-million from Edward A. St. John to endow a department of real estate and to establish a full-time master’s-degree program at the School of Professional Studies in Business and Education. Mr. St. John is the founder and chief executive officer of MIE Properties, in Baltimore.

Lenoir-Rhyne College (Hickory, N.C.): $1-million from Glenn E. Ketner Sr. and his wife, Addie, of Salisbury, N.C., to endow a professorship in nursing. Mr. Ketner has been involved in the grocery business, real estate, and shopping-center development.

Madisonville Community College (Ky.): $1.2-million planned gift from Brown Badgett Sr., a retired coal operator and road contractor in Madisonville, Ky., for endowment and general-education programs.

Medical College of Ohio Foundation (Toledo): Approximately $1.5-million from the trust of Ruth Hillebrand, who died in 1994, as designated by her brother, Joseph, who died earlier this year. Their father was an industrialist in Toledo. The gift is earmarked for the medical college’s clinical-skills center.

Miami U. (Oxford, Ohio): $1-million from Cliff Alexander, of Piqua, Ohio, to endow its office of sorority and fraternity life. Mr. Alexander, a 1956 graduate of the university, founded the Crayex Corporation, a manufacturer of packaging materials.

Saint Peter’s College (Jersey City): $1-million from Carol Bastek, of Saddle River, N.J., to endow an honors program, establish a center for honors students, and finance student research projects, study-abroad programs, and a lecture series. Ms. Bastek holds a doctorate in education. Her husband, James, who died in 1998, was a graduate of the college and a principal at Retina Consultants, in Ridgewood, N.J.

Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, Calif.): $1-million from Alexander W. and Renate Dreyfoos, of West Palm Beach, Fla., for its biomedical-science operations in Palm Beach County, Fla. Mr. Dreyfoos is the owner of a private-capital management firm.

St. Lawrence U. (Canton, N.Y.): $5-million from R. Sheldon and Virginia Johnson, of Norwalk, Conn., for the university’s endowment and for salary support of a director of counseling. Mr. Johnson is managing director of Morgan Stanley & Company and a member of the university’s Board of Trustees.

Stanford U. (Calif.): $3.5-million from Melvin B. and Joan F. Lane, of the San Francisco Bay Area, to establish a professorship in interdisciplinary environmental studies and for salary support of a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for the Environment. Mr. Lane graduated from Stanford in 1945 and worked at Lane Publishing, which is now owned by Time Warner.

Stetson U. (DeLand, Fla.): $1-million from Martha B. Apgar, of Martinsville, N.J., for scholarships, a lecture series, and renovations. Ms. Apgar is the widow of John Newton Apgar Jr., who founded Somerset Tire Service in Somerset County, N.J.

Texas Tech U. (Lubbock): $1-million from Keh-Shew Lu, Ming Chiang, Julie England, and Chung-Shing Lee to endow a chair in engineering. All are graduates of the university and current or former employees of Texas Instruments, in Dallas.

U. of Illinois Foundation (Urbana): $1.5-million from Richard Demirjian, president of the DemirCo Group, in Decatur, Ill., and other members of the Demirjian family, for an indoor golf facility at the Urbana-Champaign campus; $1.5-million from Richard S. Hill, of Atherton, Calif., chief executive officer of Novellus Systems, in San Jose, Calif., to endow three professorships in the engineering school on the Chicago campus; $1.5-million pledge from H. Richard McFarland, president of the McFarland Foods Corporation, in Indianapolis, to construct a carillon and bell tower on the Urbana-Champaign campus; $1.2-million bequest from Arthur R. Wyatt, of Champaign, Ill., an adjunct professor of accounting at the university, to endow the position of head golf coach at the Urbana-Champaign campus; real estate valued at more than $1-million from Richard Eckhardt, a retired engineer, and his wife, Sylvia, of Fallbrook, Calif., to endow a professorship, fellowships, and scholarships in civil engineering, and scholarships for students involved in Christian groups on the Urbana-Champaign campus; bequest valued at more than $1-million from John Greenleaf, former director of the Laboratory for Human Environmental Physiology at the NASA Ames Research Center, and his wife, Carol, to endow a chair in molecular and integrative physiology at the Urbana-Champaign campus; and real estate valued at approximately $1-million from Steve Irwin, an orthopedic surgeon in Bloomington, Ill., and his wife, Kathy, a registered nurse, for the department of orthopedic surgery and the College of Medicine on the Chicago campus.

U. of Kansas (Lawrence): $4-million from Charles and Sharon Lynch Kimbell for the football program and for a fund that brings performing artists to the campus. Mr. Kimbell is the former owner of an insurance company in Hutchinson, Kan., and a 1954 graduate of the university.

U. of Nebraska Foundation (Lincoln): $5.3-million from Johnny Carson, the former Tonight Show host and a 1949 graduate of the university, for its department of theater arts and to renovate a theater building.

U. of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia): $9.8-million bequest from Isabel Robson for the School of Veterinary Medicine’s capital campaign. Ms. Robson was a breeder of show dogs and owned a farm with her husband in Glenmoore, Pa.

U. of Wisconsin at Madison: $1-million from John J. and Anne Wackman Oros, of Ridgewood, N.J., for its business school. Mr. Oros, a 1971 graduate of the business school, is executive vice president of the Enstar Group, a financial-services company, and serves on the U. of Wisconsin Foundation’s Board of Directors.

Wellesley College (Mass.): $8-million from Sidney Knafel to endow four assistant professorships. Mr. Knafel is managing partner of SRK Management, in New York, and a trustee of the college.