The Philanthropy 50 2009 Gift Profile: William W. and Nadine M. McGuire

William W. and Nadine M. McGuire: $48-million

Biggest beneficiary: Florida Museum of Natural History

Donors’ background: Dr. McGuire is a physician and a former chief executive of UnitedHealth Group, a Minneapolis health insurer.

Dr. McGuire, 61, and his wife, Nadine, 60, gave a donation valued at approximately $41-million to the Florida Museum of Natural History, in Gainesville. The donation includes a cash gift and a collection of more than two million butterfly and moth specimens, about 2,000 of which are now extinct. Dr. McGuire would not disclose the amount of the cash portion of the gift, which will pay for cases to house and display the collection and support students and scientists studying the butterflies and moths, but described it as substantial.

The museum is displaying the collection to the public at its McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, so named for the McGuires in recognition of the $7.2-million in gifts they gave the museum from 2000 to 2002. The museum is associated with the University of Florida, and the McGuires’ collection will be used to help researchers at the university and elsewhere better understand the connections between butterflies and moths and biodiversity and environmental change.

Dr. McGuire first began collecting butterflies as a child, but he and his wife became serious collectors in the 1970s, marveling at the ways in which scientists could learn about environmental change from tracking and studying the winged insects. Since then, he said, it has been important to the couple to preserve as many Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) specimens as possible. Through their donation, the museum and the university “will be positioned to help educate people on not just the natural sciences, but also on biodiversity of the planet, and the linkage of all of these things so we can plan our future,” said Dr. McGuire.

In addition to the donation to the museum, the McGuires gave the university roughly 40,000 books, journals, and other documents related to moths, butterflies, and biodiversity, many dating back to the 1700s.

The McGuires, who live in Wayzata, Minn., also gave a total of approximately $7-million in cash to Minnesota groups, including a donation to the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, for scholarships; another gift to the Minnesota Zoo, in Apple Valley, for an educational program for third graders; and gifts to the Guthrie Theater and the Walker Art Center, both in Minneapolis.

—Maria Di Mento

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