No. 43: Jon L. Stryker

Beneficiary: Arcus Foundation

Donor’s background: Mr. Stryker is an architect and heir to the Stryker Corporation fortune. The medical-products company was founded by his grandfather, Homer Stryker, a surgeon who invented the mobile hospital bed.

Mr. Stryker, 53, gave slightly more than $30-million to the Arcus Foundation, which has offices in his hometown of Kalamazoo, Mich., as well as in New York and Cambridge, England. The money will support the foundation’s two grant-making priorities: combating discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and ensuring the survival of great apes and their habitats. Mr. Stryker established the foundation in 2000 and serves as its president.

The Arcus Foundation awarded 153 grants totaling nearly $48.9-million last year, including a $23-million grant to endow Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. The money will be awarded over the next five years. The center’s programs and courses are centered on human rights and social justice. Mr. Stryker graduated from Kalamazoo College in 1982.

—Maria Di Mento

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