The Museum of Modern Art Lands $40 Million: Gifts Roundup

A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:

Museum of Modern Art

Leon and Debra Black gave $40 million to support the museum’s renovation and expansion project. Museum officials plan to recognize the gift by creating the Debra and Leon Black Family Film Center, which includes multimedia exhibition galleries and two theaters.

Leon Black founded Apollo Global Management, a financial firm that specializes in leveraged buyouts and corporate restructuring. Debra Black produces Broadway shows.

The Blacks appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the most-generous donors for a large gift they gave to Dartmouth College, Leon Black’s alma mater, in 2012.

San Francisco State University

George and Judy Marcus donated $26.8 million for humanities and financial aid. Of the total, $25 million will establish the George and Judy Marcus Funds for Excellence in the Liberal Arts.

The fund will support student and faculty research, four endowed professorships, and programs in the Department of Creative Writing and the School of Cinema. The remaining $1.8 million will go toward athletic scholarships.

George Marcus co-founded Marcus & Millichap Company, the parent company of a collection of real estate, service, investment, and development firms. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the university in 1965. Judy Marcus is a former physical education teacher. She graduated from the university in 1962.

University of Texas at Austin

Phil and Mary Beth Canfield donated $20 million to expand the Business Honors Program at the McCombs School of Business. The program will be named for the Canfields.

Phil Canfield is managing director at the private-equity firm GTCR in Chicago He graduated from the Business Honors Program in 1989.

The money will support full-tuition scholarships and help broaden program offerings and student resources.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Rodger and Paula Riney gave $20 million to create the Paula C. and Rodger O. Riney Blood Cancer Research Initiative Fund and to back multiple myeloma research at the university and at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Roger Riney founded the discount brokerage firm Scottrade and led the company until it was sold to TD Ameritrade in 2017.

The donation is personal for the Rineys: Roger Riney was diagnosed with the cancer in 2015 and is currently in treatment for it at the Siteman Cancer Center. In 2016 the couple gave the university $5 million for three pilot studies into treatment for the cancer.

Tyler Junior College

Jim and Virginia Gatewood left more than $19 million to create the James F. and Virginia Hawkins Gatewood Memorial Fund, which will endow the college’s Presidential Honors Scholarship Program.

Jim Gatewood was an investor in Tyler, Texas. He died in 2001. Virginia Gatewood died in 2017. The couple had been longtime supporters of the college.

Maine College of Art

Peter and Paula Lunder gave $3 million through their Lunder Foundation for financial aid and operations.

Of the total, the Lunders are directing $2.5 million toward the Lunders Scholars Program, which provides need-based financial aid to students from Maine. The remaining $500,000 will go toward strategic-planning efforts college officials are starting.

Both parts of the donation are in the form of a matching challenge, meaning the college must raise additional donations from other donors to receive all of the Lunders’ gift.

Peter Lunder, a retired Portland, Maine, businessman and art collector, was the president of the now-closed Dexter Shoe Company. The couple pledged to give their art collection — then valued at about $100 million — to the Colby College Museum of Art in 2007.

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