N.Y. Hospital Gets $25-Million; Other Gifts

Two organizations have received big gifts:

• New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, in New York, has received a $25-million gift from Phyllis and David Komansky for a new pediatric center. Mr. Komansky is the retired chairman and chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch, which has its headquarters in New York.
• The United States Military Academy, in West Point, N.Y., has received a $15-million pledge from William and Carol Foley for an athletic training center. Mr. Foley, a 1967 graduate of the academy, is chief executive officer of Fidelity National Financial Corporation, in Jacksonville, Fla.

Other recent gifts:

Colgate U. (Hamilton, N.Y.): Approximately $1-million from A. Theodore and Helen K. Persson, of North Palm Beach, Fla., for an endowment to support operations and maintenance of an academic building. Mr. Persson, a 1942 graduate and trustee emeritus of the university, was an executive with Toplis and Harding, an insurance adjuster in New York.

Gannon U. (Erie, Pa.): $1-million from Robert H. and Dianne Morosky, of Columbus, Ohio, and Key Largo, Fla., to endow a scholarship fund for graduates of Erie’s six high schools and for City of Erie employees attending the university. Mr. Morosky, a 1963 graduate of the university, is a former chairman of Allied/Federated Department Stores, in New York.

Mary Baldwin College (Staunton, Va.): $6.5-million pledge from Bertie Deming Smith, of Alexandria, La., for its capital campaign. Ms. Smith is a trustee emerita of the college whose father founded Murphy Oil Corporation, in El Dorado, Ark.

Saint Xavier U. (Chicago): Land valued at $2-million from Mary Rita and Robert Stump, of Orland Park, Ill., for its Orland Park campus. Mr. Stump is an investor and retired restaurant owner.

Swarthmore College (Pa.): $1.8-million bequest from Merritt Hallowell, a member of the class of 1961, for its capital campaign. Mr. Hallowell, of Rydal, Pa., was an investor. The college also received $1.4-million from Frank Solomon for financial aid. Mr. Solomon, class of 1950, is a lawyer and investor in Sacramento.

Texas A&M U. (College Station): $9-million pledge from Artie McFerrin, a 1965 graduate, for a new indoor practice facility for the university’s football team. Mr. McFerrin owns KMCO, a chemical-manufacturing and processing plant in Crosby, Tex.

Tri-State U. (Angola, Ind.): $3-million bequest from Maxine Bateman Kolb, widow of Richard M. Bateman, a former president of the college. The majority of the gift will be used for endowment.

U. of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (Little Rock): $8.7-million bequest from Helen Guinn Adams, of Fayetteville, Ark., for medical research. Ms. Adams was a 1929 graduate of the U. of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and owned Adams Flower Shop in conjunction with her husband, Roy. The gift came from the sale of Berkshire Hathaway stock.

U. of Florida (Gainesville): $1.5-million pledge from an anonymous family to endow a curatorship in Asian art at its Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art.

U. of Nebraska at Lincoln: $5-million bequest from Johnny Carson, former host of the Tonight Show and a 1949 graduate of the university, to establish an endowment that will support the Department of Theater Arts and the broadcast-journalism program.

U. of San Diego, School of Law: $1.75-million pledge from Susan S. and Jerry G. Gonick, of San Diego, to endow a professorship in elder law. Mr. and Mrs. Gonick, both retired lawyers, received degrees from the law school.

Viewpoint School (Calabasas, Calif.): $2.16-million bequest from Elizabeth Handley, of Carmel, Calif., to augment the Joseph and Elizabeth Handley Endowment for American Historical Studies and the Joseph and Elizabeth Handley Center for American Historical Studies. Ms. Handley, who died last year,