Real-Estate Mogul Pledges $100-Million to Arizona State U.; Other Gifts

Nine institutions have received big gifts:

• Ira A. Fulton, founder of Fulton Homes, a residential real-estate development company in Tempe, Ariz., and his wife, Mary Lou, have pledged $100-million to Arizona State University Foundation, in Tempe. The Fultons stipulated that the money is to be split between the College of Education, the foundation, and a discretionary fund for Michael Crow, the university’s president. Mr. Fulton attended the university, but did not graduate, and Ms. Fulton graduated from the College of Education in 1974.
• Indiana University at Bloomington has received a $70-million gift from an anonymous donor for scholarships. The university also received $15-million from a 1944 graduate, Jesse H. Cox, the retired founder of the Aero Drapery Company, in Indianapolis, and his late wife, Beulah, for scholarships for students working their way through college.
• Robert E. Fischell, an inventor of medical devices and the founder of Angel Medical Systems, in Tinton Falls, N.J., has pledged $30-million to the University of Maryland at College Park to establish a bioengineering department and an institute for biomedical devices in the Clark School of Engineering. Mr. Fischell served as chief engineer of the space department at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, in Laurel, Md. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation and earned a master’s degree in physics in 1953 from the university.
• St. Mary’s University, in San Antonio, has received $25-million from Bill Greehey, chairman of Valero Energy, an oil-refining company in San Antonio, to endow the School of Business and Administration. Money from the endowment will be used for outreach to high-school students, scholarships, technology improvements, and other programs.
• The Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, has received $20-million from an anonymous donor to construct a new building at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
• Rice University, in Houston, has received a $20-million pledge from an anonymous donor to endow four professorships in the School of Humanities. The money will be paid over three years.
• T. Denny Sanford, chairman of United Capital Corporation, First Premier Bank, and Premier Bancard, in Sioux Falls, S.D., has donated $20-million to Sioux Valley Hospital for the University of South Dakota, in Vermillion, for its School of Medicine. The money, which is scheduled to be paid over eight years, will create an endowment for faculty support and training. Mr. Sanford has also given $15-million to the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn., for a pediatric outpatient center and to endow collaborative research and education programs involving the clinic and Sanford Children’s Hospital, in Sioux Falls.
• John F. Blais, founder and president of BlaisCo, a holding company that specializes in high-technology firms, in Framingham, Mass., and his wife, Shelley, have pledged $16.5-million to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, in Boston. The money will establish a research center to study how proteins function and to develop cancer-fighting drugs. The money will also pay for 18 new researchers, four new laboratories, and computer and laboratory equipment. Mr. Blais is a trustee at Dana-Farber.

Other recent gifts:

Augustana College (Sioux Falls, S.D.): $3.6-million bequest from Nils Boe, a former governor of South Dakota who died in 1992, and his sisters, Borghild Boe, a former executive director of the Family Service Association in Beloit, Wis., who died in 1994, and Lois Boe Hyslop, a former professor at Pennsylvania State U., who died in 2003. The siblings stipulated that the money go to the Center for Western Studies.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati: $1.5-million from an anonymous donor for programs.

Centre County Library and Historical Museum (Bellefonte, Pa.): $1-million bequest from Elliott Potter, a retired reporter at the Centre Daily Times, a newspaper in State College, Pa., for unrestricted use. Mr. Potter died in May 2004.

Christian Academy (Brookhaven, Pa.): $6-million bequest from Joseph and Emily Fisher, founders of the Fisher Tank Company, in Chester, Pa. The money will be used for facilities improvements, professional development and additional compensation for teachers, and scholarships, and to promote Christian education and pay off the school’s mortgage.

College of Charleston (S.C.): $2-million pledge from Chuck Davis, the president of Chuck Davis and Associates, a real-estate firm in Charleston, and his wife, Sara, a professor of education at the college, for a new building in the School of Education.

Converse College (Spartanburg, S.C.): $1.25-million from Billy Webster, president of Advance America, Cash Advance Centers, in Spartanburg, and his wife, Lindsay, to endow a professorship in philosophy. Mr. Webster is vice chairman of the college’s Board of Trustees.

Disabled Veterans Life Memorial Foundation (Arlington, Va.): $5-million from Lois Pope, widow of Generoso Pope, founder of the National Enquirer, to match donations for the construction of a memorial in Washington for disabled American veterans. Ms. Pope is chairwoman and a co-founder of the foundation.

Elmhurst College (Ill.): $1-million from Allen and Phyllis Blume, of Reno, Nev., to augment a scholarship endowment for needy students. Mr. Blume, a retired minister, is president of the West Star Foundation, in Minneapolis, and graduated from the college in 1955.

Harvard Law School (Cambridge, Mass.): $2-million from Joseph H. Flom, a law partner with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, in New York, to establish a center to study legal issues related to advances in genetics, health care, and technology. Mr. Flom graduated from the law school in 1948.

Jewish Theological Seminary (New York): $5-million from an anonymous donor for endowed and current scholarships at the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education.

Kansas State U. Foundation (Manhattan): $1-million pledge from Steven Hodes, founder of the Hodes Veterinary Group and Mobile Veterinary Service, in Mine Hill, N.J., and his wife, Colleen, chief executive officer of the Hodes Veterinary Group, to establish a professorship in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Ms. Hodes graduated from the university in 1978, and Mr. Hodes graduated from the College of Veterinary Medicine in 1979.

Lamar U. (Beaumont, Tex.): $5-million from Walter Umphrey, senior managing partner of Provost & Umphrey Law Firm, in Beaumont, and his wife, Sheila, owner of the Decorating Depot, an interior-design company in Port Neches, Tex., to construct a new sports center.

Oberlin College (Ohio): $5-million pledge from Stewart Kohl, a managing partner of the Riverside Company, a private equity firm in Cleveland, and his wife, Donna, to construct a facility for the jazz-studies program. Mr. Kohl is a 1977 graduate of Oberlin.

Oklahoma City U.: $1-million from Wanda L. Bass to purchase and install wireless technology throughout the Wanda L. Bass School of Music. Ms. Bass owns and operates the First National Bank, in McAlester, Okla.

Rhode Island School of Design Museum (Providence): $1-million from David Rockefeller, chairman emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, to restore the Asian art galleries, which were named for Mr. Rockefeller’s mother, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and his aunt, Lucy Truman Aldrich.

Shippensburg U. (Pa.): $1-million bequest from Cora I. Grove, a businesswoman in Shippensburg, to support a newly completed performing-arts center. Ms. Grove died in June.

St. Bonaventure U. (N.Y.): $1.2-million bequest from an anonymous donor to establish an endowment at the Franciscan Institute in the School of Franciscan Studies.

St. Lawrence U. (Canton, N.Y.): $1.2-million pledge from Allan P. Newell, a private investor in Hammond, N.Y., and a board director of Newell Rubbermaid, in Atlanta, for improvements to the Newell Center for Arts Technology.

St. Thomas U. (Miami): $3-million from Miguel Fernandez, chairman of MBF Healthcare Partners, in Coral Gables, Fla., to establish a center that will house academic and leadership programs for university and high-school students. The center will also house space for sports activities, and will be open to St. Thomas students and Miami residents.

U. of Central Florida (Orlando): $2.5-million pledge from Steve Walsh, managing partner and founder of Broad Street Partners, a real-estate investment and development company in Winter Park, Fla., and Charleston, S.C., and his wife, Paula, to help establish a medical college.

U. of Maryland at College Park: $1-million from three brothers: David R. Fischell, president of Cathco, a biomedical-device company in Dayton, Md., Scott J.S. Fischell, managing member of Sirolimed, and Tim A. Fischell, a professor of medicine at Michigan State U. School of Medicine, in East Lansing, Mich. The money will support a new bioengineering department and an institute for biomedical devices in the Clark School of Engineering.

U. of Mississippi (Oxford): $1-million from Sam Haskell, a former international head of television at the William Morris Agency, a talent and literary agency in Beverly Hills, Calif., and his wife, Mary, an actress and singer. The money will be used for operating costs at the university’s performing-arts center, to endow a scholarship fund for women, and to support future programs

U. of North Carolina at Asheville: $2-million from Joe W. Kimmel, founder of Kimmel & Associates, an executive-search firm for the construction industry, in Asheville, for the North Carolina Center for Health and Wellness.

U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Medicine: $2.5-million from an anonymous donor to establish a professorship in medicine at the Thurston Arthritis Research Center, and to endow research on autoimmune diseases.

U. of South Dakota Foundation (Vermillion): $5-million from an anonymous donor to construct a new building for the business school.

U. of Texas at Austin: $3-million from W.A. Moncrief Jr., president and owner of Moncrief Oil, in Fort Worth, to endow three professorships in the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences. Mr. Moncrief graduated from the university in 1942.