Pomona College Gets $23-Million for Science Center; Other Recent Big Gifts

Two colleges have received big gifts:

• Pomona College, in Claremont, Calif., has received a $23.3-million gift from the estate of Frank R. Seaver, who graduated from the college in 1905 with a degree in biology. Mr. Seaver subsequently founded the Hydril Company, a manufacturing and marketing company serving the oil and gas industry. The donation will go toward expansion of the Seaver Science Center, including a complete renovation of its biology and geology laboratories.
• The University of New Orleans has announced a $10-million pledge from Myrtis L. (Jeri) Nims, whose late husband, Robert, was an amusement-company executive. The gift will endow 20 scholarships for students in the arts program and will help construct an art gallery.

Other nonprofit organizations that recently received big contributions:

California Polytechnic U. (San Luis Obispo): $4-million pledge from Clifford Chapman, former owner of Marshall’s Jewelers, in San Luis Obispo, and Gene Shidler, a former librarian in the Santa Maria High School District, to support the university’s performing-arts program and the Baker Forum, which fosters discussion on science and technology.

Colorado State U. (Fort Collins): $3-million from Barbara Cox Anthony, president of the James M. Cox Jr. Foundation, in Atlanta, to endow a chair in the Orthopaedic Research Center.

Concordia College (Bronxville, N.Y.): $1.5-million from Robert Cade, of Gainesville, Fla., a renal clinician and the inventor of Gatorade, and his wife, Mary, to endow the Cade Center for Worship and Church Music.

Dana Hall School (Wellesley, Mass.): $5-million from Lucia and Charles Shipley, of Auburndale, Mass., co-founders of the Shipley Company, for the new athletic, health, and wellness center.

Defiance College (Ohio): $6-million from Harold McMaster, of Perrysburg, Ohio, a physicist who founded or co-founded four companies in Ohio, and his wife, Helen, to establish the McMaster School for Advancing Humanity.

Drew U. (Madison, N.J.): $5-million bequest from Marion Broderson Melander, of Maplewood, N.J., to support the theological school.

Fisk U. (Nashville): $4-million matching gift from an anonymous donor to help renovate two campus buildings.

Florida State U. (Tallahassee): $1-million from David B. Ford, retired co-head of the Asset Management Group of Goldman Sachs & Company, in New York, for undergraduate scholarships.

George Washington U. (Washington): $5-million pledge from Henry (Ric) Duques, chairman of First Data Corporation, in Greenwood Village, Colo., and his wife, Dawn, both alumni of the university, to help construct a building for the business school.

Grinnell College (Iowa): $5-million from Ann S. Bowers, a former vice president of human resources at Apple Computer and director of personnel for Intel, whose late husband, Robert N. Noyce, co-founded Intel, to help renovate a science building.

Illinois State U. (Normal): $2-million from Thomas H. Heimsoth, who co-founded Resource Information Management Systems, in Naperville, Ill., and his wife, Sandra, to endow a chair in special-education technology.

Knox College (Galesburg, Ill.): $7-million pledge from two anonymous donors to endow a chair and a scholarship fund in early American history.

Kutztown U. of Pennsylvania: $1-million pledge from Ruth Freyberger, a retired professor of art education at Illinois State U., to endow a chair in Pennsylvania German studies.

Lexington School for the Deaf/Center for the Deaf (Queens, N.Y.): $2-million from Ralph and Ricky Lauren to help renovate the school’s auditorium.

Martin Methodist College (Pulaski, Tenn.): $5-million matching gift from Cal Turner Jr., chairman of the Dollar General chain of discount stores, in Goodlettsville, Tenn., to endow the Center for Church Leadership.

Montclair State U. (Upper Montclair, N.J.): $4-million pledge from Mary V. Mochary, a lawyer in Washington and a former mayor of Montclair; her brother, I. Michael Kasser, founder of Holualoa Companies, a real estate-investment and management company; and other family members, to help build a new theater.

Munroe Foundation (Ocala, Fla.): $1-million charitable remainder trust from Opal and Harold Plumley, of Ocala, owners of Plumley Farms, a thoroughbred horse and cattle farm, for unrestricted use. The Munroe Foundation is an affiliate of Munroe Regional Medical Center.

Ohio State U. Libraries (Columbus): $5-million from Thomas E. Robinson, of Troy, Ohio, and his wife, Patricia A. Duke Robinson, a director of the university’s foundation, to help renovate the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library.

Orange Coast College Foundation (Costa Mesa, Calif.): $1-million from Trudy Doyle, of Reno, whose late husband, Frank, was a real-estate developer, to help build a new arts building.

Phoenix Symphony: $1-million from A. Wallace Denny of Litchfield Park, Ariz., who retired in 1967 as a vice president at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, for endowment.

Rutgers School of Law (Newark, N.J.): $1.1-million from Paul Miller, retired executive vice president and general counsel of Pfizer, and his wife, Carol, to establish a scholarship and to support a lecture series.

Southwest Missouri State U. (Springfield): $3-million pledge from Tom Strong, a trial attorney who graduated from the university in 1952; his wife, Wilma; and their children, Stephanie Strong Mitchell, John T. Strong, and David K. Strong. The gift will endow chairs in Protestant studies and public affairs and scholarships for graduate students in the College of Humanities and Public Affairs.

St. Bonaventure U. (N.Y.): $3-million from William L. Richter, co-founder of Cerberus Capital Management, in New York, and his wife, Sandra, an alumna of the university, to help build a recreation center.

St. Lawrence U. (Canton, N.Y.): $1.2-million from Lester C. Millard, of Canton, a retired physician, for renovations and construction, a scholarship, and other programs.

U. of Arkansas (Fayetteville): $1-million pledge from Ken Shollmier, a New Orleans businessman, to help renovate a lecture hall in the School of Architecture and to build a plaza at the business school.

U. of Charleston (W.Va.): $2-million from an anonymous donor to endow a professorship and scholarships in business.

U. of Iowa (Iowa City): $5-million from Russell A. Gerdin, of North Liberty, Iowa, president and chief executive officer of Heartland Express, a trucking company, and his wife, Ann, to support student athletes and for the athletics program.

U. of Massachusetts (Amherst): $2.5-million from an anonymous donor to establish a program on the psychology of peace and violence.

U. of Massachusetts at Boston: $1-million from Jack Welch, retired chairman of General Electric, to establish a scholarship for graduates of Salem High School, from which Mr. Welch graduated in 1953.

U. of Missouri at Rolla: $5-million pledge from Gary W. Havener, a businessman in Fort Worth, Tex., to help renovate the university’s student center.

U. of New Hampshire (Durham): $7.5-million from Marcy Peterson Carsey, a 1966 graduate and the producer of such television shows as The Cosby Show and Roseanne, to establish the Carsey Institute for Effective Families and Communities.

U. of North Dakota Foundation (Grand Forks): $1.2-million bequest from Winnifred Hughes Jones, an alumna who managed real-estate holdings, for an endowment.

U. of Oklahoma (Norman): $2.5-million from Howard Lester, chairman of Williams-Sonoma, in San Francisco, to build an addition to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas: $2-million from William W. Winspear, founder of Associated Materials, in Dallas, and his wife, Margot, for research on Alzheimer’s disease.

U. of Virginia (Charlottesville): $3-million from the estate of Paul Mellon, the philanthropist who died in 1999, for scholarships for financially needy students from Fauquier County, Va.

Westminster College (New Wilmington, Pa.): $1-million bequest from the Rev. Joseph T. Brownlee, a Presbyterian minister who graduated from the college in 1935, to endow a scholarship fund.