Stanford U. Receives $90-Million in Big Donations; Other Recent Gifts

Twelve institutions have received big gifts:

• Stanford University, in California, has received a gift of $50-million from Peter S. Bing, a private investor in Los Angeles, and his wife, Helen, to build a new concert hall, as part of the university’s planned performing-arts center. Mr. Bing graduated from the university in 1955 with a medical degree and in 1956 received a bachelor’s degree in humanities.

  Stanford also received $30-million from Jay A. Precourt, chairman of Hermes Consolidated, an oil company in Denver, to establish an institute for energy efficiency. At Stanford he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1959 and a master’s degree in 1960, both in petroleum engineering.

  Additionally, Judy Avery, chair of the Durfee Foundation, in Santa Monica, Calif., has given $10-million to establish a loan-forgiveness program for aspiring teachers. Stanford will match the gift to create a $20-million fund that will cancel student-loan debts after graduates have worked as teachers for four years. Ms. Avery received a bachelor’s degree in history in 1959.

• Eugenia J. Dodson, a beautician who died at age 100 last year, has bequeathed $35.6-million to support cancer and diabetes research. The Diabetes Research Institute, at the University of Miami’s medical school, will receive $23.5-million of the gift to endow a professorship in diabetes research, establish the Diabetes Center for Translational Research, buy new research equipment, and create a fellowship in Type I diabetes research. The UM/Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, also at the University of Miami’s medical school, will receive the remainder to create two endowed professorships and support a new immunotherapy program. Ms. Dodson invested the small inheritance she received from her husband 50 years ago.

• Trinity College, in Hartford, Conn., has received three anonymous pledges: $31.5-million to endow five professorships and contribute to the endowment; $5- million for efforts to recruit international students; and $3-million to endow a professorship.

• The Harlem Children’s Zone, in New York, has received $25-million from its chairman, Stanley Druckenmiller, founder of Duquesne Capital Management, in Pittsburgh, to add to the endowment. The charity has also received $5-million from Mark Kingdon, president of Kingdon Capital Management, in New York; $1.5-million from an anonymous donor; $1-million from Ken Langone, chairman of Invemed, an investment-banking and brokerage firm, in New York; and $1-million from Gary Cohn, president of Goldman Sachs Group, in New York.

• Peddie School, in Hightstown, N.J., has received a pledge of $20-million from an anonymous donor. Half of the gift will be used to raise additional money to renovate and expand the school’s athletic center, and the other half will be used for teacher support and academic programs and to create an Asian-studies program.

• The Art Institute of Chicago has received $19-million from Anne Dias Griffin, founder and managing partner at Aragon Global Management, in Chicago, and her husband, Kenneth C. Griffin, founder of Citadel Investment Group, in Chicago. The gift will support the museum’s new Modern Wing, which will house its architecture and design, contemporary, and modern collections.

• Darlington School, a private boarding school in Rome, Ga., has received an anonymous pledge of $15-million. Of the gift, $10- million will add to the endowment, and Darlington will use the remaining $5-million for capital projects.

• The Nature Conservancy, in Arlington, Va., has received an anonymous gift of 1,910 acres in Phippsburg, Me., valued at up to $14-million. The Conservancy is now raising $750,000 to endow a stewardship program to preserve the land’s natural resources and maintain public access for fishermen, hunters, and other visitors.

• A group of anonymous donors has given $10-million for a partnership between the Jewish Funders Network, in New York, and the Sacta-Rashi Foundation, in Israel, for recovery efforts in Israel following the conflict with Hezbollah. The gift will provide scholarships to students who attend colleges in north Israel, educational programs for children, repairs to damaged buildings, and assistance to small businesses.

• The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has received $10-million from George D. Behrakis, founder and chairman of Gainsborough Investments, a venture-capital firm in Boston, and his wife, Margo, to build a new wing.

• The University of Minnesota Institute of Technology, in Minneapolis, has received a bequest of $10-million from an anonymous donor to endow fellowships for graduate students.

Other recent gifts:

Adas Israel Congregation (Washington): $5-million pledge from Donald Saltz, a former business reporter for several newspapers and a private investor in Washington, for the synagogue’s endowment. Mr. Saltz made the gift in honor of his late wife, Mozelle, who died in December.

Center on Philanthropy at Indiana U. (Indianapolis): $1.5-million from Robert Hartsook, founder of Hartsook Companies, a fund-raising firm in Wichita, Kan., to endow a chair in fund raising.

Dunedin Fine Art Center (Fla.): $1-million bequest from Oskar Wenceslaus Elbert, a former real-estate agent and typographer who was born in Hungary. Mr. Elbert, an amateur photographer, died last November at the age of 86.

Hamilton College (Clinton, N.Y.): $3.6-million pledge from Carl Menges, a retired chairman of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, an investment firm that is now part of Credit Suisse Group, to support the Alexander Hamilton Center. The new center will study democracy and society through conferences and lectures, and will award fellowships and support student research.

Kettering Medical Center (Dayton, Ohio): $5.5-million from Benjamin Schuster, a cardiologist at Kettering since 1964, and his wife, Marian, to help build a new cardiac hospital.

Lehigh U. (Bethlehem, Pa.): $2.25-million from Peter Bennett, chairman of Liberty Partners, a private-equity investment company in New York, to endow a Center for Urban Leadership and select a new executive director for the center.

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (Boston): $1-million from Lakshmi N. Mittal, chairman of Mittal Steel, in London, to support research by Saumil Merchant and Michael McKenna on diseases of the middle ear.

New Israel Fund (Washington): $2-million pledge from an anonymous donor to support Shatil, a program that works to empower grass-roots social organizations in Israel through training and leadership. The money will also establish an office in Galilee and pay for a mobile unit that will travel to remote northern regions.

St. Cloud State U. (Minn.): $1.4-million bequest from the estate of Norbert F. Lindskog, a retired business professor at City Colleges of Chicago Harold Washington College, to endow a professorship in business. Mr. Lindskog, who died in 2003, received his bachelor’s degree in 1954 and master’s degree in 1957 in business education from the university.

St. Luke’s Hospital (Chesterfield, Mo.): $5-million pledge from Theodore P. Desloge Jr., a private investor in Watlow, Mo., and his wife, Linda, to help build its West Campus Outpatient Center, scheduled to open in early 2008.

Stetson U. (DeLand, Fla.): $1-million from Martha B. Apgar to establish a lecture series at the university. Ms. Apgar’s late husband, John N. Apgar Jr., founded Somerset Tire Service, in New Jersey.

Syracuse U. (N.Y.): $6-million from Jack and Laura Milton, a couple who met and married at the university, to support its Life Sciences Complex, scheduled to open in fall 2008. Mr. Milton, who received a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse in 1951, is the chairman of Milton CAT, a chain of construction-machinery dealerships in the Northeast, headquartered in Milford, Mass. Ms. Milton graduated from the university with a bachelor’s degree in French.

Texas State U. at San Marcos, College of Business Administration: $1.1-million from Jerry D. Fields, founder of J.D. Fields & Company, a steel-products supplier in Houston, and his wife, Linda Gregg Fields, to endow a professorship in ethics and corporate responsibility. Mr. Fields graduated from the college of business in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing; Ms. Fields received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1966 from the university.

U. of Florida College of Business (Gainesville): $2.5-million from Kelley Bergstrom, founder of Bergstrom Investment Management, in Kenilworth, Ill., to support the university’s center for real-estate studies.

U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: $2-million from Marlyn Whitsitt Rinehart, wife of the late Kenneth L. Rinehart Jr., who was a professor of chemistry at the university, to endow a professorship in natural-products chemistry; $1.5-million from Sandford Furman, founder of FDS Architects in Tenafly, N.J., and his wife, Mimi, to support the School of Architecture; $1- million from Charles Hammond Jr., a retired loan officer at the Export-Import Bank of the United States, in Washington, for scholarships, with preference given to graduates of Canton High School, in Illinois; $1-million from Meredith Mills, a financial analyst at the Irwin Mortgage Company, in Indianapolis, and her husband, David, president of Busey Bank, in Urbana, to endow the position of head coach of men’s tennis; and $1-million from Keith R. Westcott, a former protein-chemistry scientist at Amgen, a biotechnology company in Thousand Oaks, Calif., to establish a fellowship in bioscience.

U. of Pennsylvania, Wharton School (Philadelphia): $5-million from Robert M. Levy, chairman of Harris Associates, in Chicago, and his wife, Diane, to endow programs that explore social issues, to add to an existing fellowship fund, and to support the university’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Mr. Levy graduated from the Wharton School in 1974 with a master’s degree in business administration.

U. of Texas at Dallas: $1.3-million bequest from Olean U. Vincent, who died in 2004 at age 91, to support research into Alzheimer’s disease, osteosarcoma, and glioblastoma.

Virginia Commonwealth U., School of Business (Richmond): $2.5-million from Sam Kornblau, chairman of Samco Development Corporation, in Richmond, to establish a real-estate institute.

Virginia Wesleyan College (Norfolk): $4.5-million from John E. Lingo Jr., a realtor in Rehoboth Beach, Del., and his family. Most of the gift — $4.3-million — will help build a new stadium for the field hockey, intramural, and lacrosse teams. The remaining $200,000 will endow scholarships and contribute to the annual fund. Mr. Lingo’s two sons graduated from the college.

Youngstown State U. (Ohio): $5-million from the family of the late Warren P. Williamson Jr., founder of the WKBN Broadcasting Corporation, in Youngstown, to construct a new building at the College of Business Administration. Mr. Williamson died in 1996 at age 96.

— Compiled by Anne W. Howard