January 31, 2022 | Read Time: 3 minutes
A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:
Southern Methodist University Athletics
Garry Weber pledged $50 million through his Garry Weber Foundation to support the construction of a new end-zone complex at the university’s football stadium. The new complex will be named for the donor.
Weber founded Weber Financial, a Dallas investment firm, and is a former Dallas County judge. He graduated from the university’s Edwin L. Cox School of Business in 1958 and played on the university’s football team. Weber served on the SMU Board of Trustees from 1984 to 1996.
University of Southern California and University of California at San Diego
Daniel and Phyllis Epstein gave $50 million through their Epstein Family Foundation to establish the Epstein Family Alzheimer’s Research Collaboration, a joint program of the two universities. The money will be split evenly, with $25 million going to each institution, and will accelerate research efforts to develop better treatments for Alzheimer’s patients and find a cure for the disease.
The Epstein family has experienced the ravages of the disease firsthand: Daniel Epstein’s identical twin brother, David, suffered from Alzheimer’s for 15 years and passed away recently as a result of the disease.
Daniel Epstein founded the ConAm Group, an apartment property-development and management company in San Diego. He earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering in 1962 and has served as a trustee of USC since 2002. The couple’s two children graduated from USC.
Columbia Business School
Robert Smith gave $10 million to create the Robert F. Smith ’94 Scholarship Fund, which will support about 200 MBA students with partial or full scholarships over the next 10 years. The scholarships will be awarded to Columbia Business School students who have graduated from historically Black colleges and universities, overcome systemic hardships or challenges in their academic pursuits, or demonstrated a commitment to diversity efforts.
Smith is chairman and chief executive of Vista Equity Partners, in Austin, Tex., and a prolific donor in the last several years to efforts to reduce college-loan debt among students at historically Black colleges and universities. He has appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors four times since 2005.
Urban Land Institute
Randall Lewis gave $10 million to back the organization’s efforts to build resilience against the effects of climate change, create healthier places for people to live and work, and reduce carbon emissions. The institute has renamed the former Center for Sustainability and Economic Performance the ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate. Lewis is senior executive vice president of marketing at the Lewis Management Corporation, his family’s Upland, Calif., real-estate development company.
University of California at San Diego
Deepak and Varsha Israni pledged $6 million to create and endow a new center that will promote, advance, and advocate for filmmaking and the cinematic arts, and establish the Suraj Israni Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Cinematic Arts, named for the donors’ late son Suraj, who was an aspiring filmmaker.
Deepak Iseani is president and managing partner of Pacifica Companies, a San Diego real-estate firm that owns retirement communities, residential developments, and other properties across the United States and in India and Mexico.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.
