Technology Entrepreneur Nahum Guzik Gives $25 Million for Cultural Center

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Nahum Guzik gave $25 million through his Guzik Foundation for the new Guzik Cultural Center, a performing-arts complex on the university’s new north campus, in Beer-Sheva, Israel. The center will feature a large music hall and auditorium, an art exhibition area, and a visitors’ center.

Nahum Guzik is the founder and president of Guzik Technical Enterprises, a Mountain View, Calif., company that manufactures data acquisition, digital-signal processing, and data-streaming solutions for electronic test and measurement, automatic test equipment, and original equipment manufacturer applications.

An engineer from Odessa, Ukraine, Guzik worked on defense research in Siberia and Novosibirsk, and in Moscow on the development of the data-recording system used by the space mission Vostok 2, when Russian cosmonaut Gherman Titov became the second human to orbit Earth, in August 1961.

He emigrated to Israel in 1972 and then to the United States in 1973. Once here, Guzik worked for Ampex and then Memorex before starting his company in 1982.

Russell Medical

Ben and Luanne Russell gave $25 million to build the Benjamin Russell Center for Advanced Care, which will provide geriatric health care and specialty health care services; and to establish the Benjamin Russell Endowed Chair in Geriatrics.

Ben Russell is chairman of the board of Russell Lands, his family’s real-estate development and management company in Alexander City, Alabama. The company also owns and operates a golf and country club, an amphitheater, and other businesses throughout the state.

The Russells stipulated that the center and the chair be named for Ben Russell’s late grandfather and namesake, known as “Mr. Ben,” who founded several businesses in central Alabama, including the textile and apparel giant Russell Corporation. In 1963, the company’s real-estate business was separated from the textile operation as Russell Lands Inc.

Cleveland Clinic

Charles Shor donated $15.5 million through his Charles L. Shor Foundation to construct a building for the Neurological Institute and to support epilepsy research. The clinic’s Epilepsy Center will be renamed for the donor.

Of the total, $10 million will go toward the new building and the remaining $5.5 million will back an epilepsy study exploring the link between stress and epileptic seizures.

Shor is a Cincinnati businessman who was diagnosed with epilepsy in his 20s and had his first seizure at age 25. He served as president and CEO of Duro Bag Manufacturing, the world’s largest paper-bag manufacturer, until 2014. His father, David Shor, founded the company in 1953.

American Civil Liberties Union Foundation

Jon Stryker and Slobodan Randjelović gave $15 million to support the organization’s project that is focused on LGBTQ and HIV issues. The project will be renamed for the couple, who are long-time donors to the nonprofit.

Stryker is an architect and heir to a family fortune. He founded and leads the Arcus Foundation, a Kalamazoo, Mich., grant maker that backs the advancement of LGBTQ rights and conservation of the world’s great apes. Stryker has given more than $300 million to charity since 2006 and has appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors eight times.

Randjelović is also an architect. He is a former associate at Robert A.M. Stern Architects in New York and has worked as an independent architect in Italy designing university and commercial buildings and smaller residential, landscape, and retail spaces. He is a former set designer and photographer for Studio Festi, a theatrical production company based in Varese, Italy.

A spokesman said this donation is a personal gift from the couple rather than a grant made through Arcus Foundation.

Golda Och Academy

Billionaires Daniel and Jane Och gave $10 million through their Jane and Daniel Och Family Foundation to establish the Dr. Michael Och Fund for Faculty Excellence, named for Daniel Och’s father.

Daniel Och’s parents helped found the originally named the Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union in 1965, and it was renamed for Daniel Och’s late mother, Golda, in 2010 when Daniel and Jane Och gave the school $15 million. The late Golda Och held a variety of roles during her decadeslong career at the school, including business manager, board president, and Jewish-history teacher.

Daniel Och is the founder, chairman, and former CEO of Och-Ziff Capital Management, a global hedge fund and alternative asset-management firm.

MedStar Georgetown University Hospital

Allan and Shelley Holt donated $10 million for a new surgical facility that will provide the latest technologies to help surgeons plan and perform complex procedures, and give training opportunities for young surgeons.

Allan Holt is a senior partner and managing director at Carlyle Group and chairman of Carlyle’s U.S. Buyout group, the Washington private-equity firm’s largest investment fund.

University of Iowa

Dr. Sue Beckwith gave $7 million to endow the women’s basketball head-coaching position and to support the P. Sue Beckwith, MD, Black and Golden Opportunities Fund, which provides annual support to all of the university’s women’s sports.

Beckwith is a retired colorectal surgeon who serves as chairman of Fareway Meat and Grocery, a chain of stores founded in 1938 by her grandfather, Paul Beckwith, in Boone, Iowa. She earned a bachelor’s degree and an M.D. from the university in 1980 and 1984, respectively, and played on the women’s basketball team as an undergraduate.

Before she retired from medicine in 2018, Beckwith earned an M.B.A. from the university’s Henry B. Tippie College of Business.

To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.