TV Tycoon Pledges $28.5-Million to U. of Nevada at Las Vegas; Other Gifts

Several higher-education institutions have received big gifts.

* The University of Nevada at Las Vegas is the latest organization to benefit from a pledge by James E. Rogers, a lawyer and owner of Sunbelt Communications, in Las Vegas. Mr. Rogers, his wife, Beverly, and their family have committed $28.5-million to support the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Mr. Rogers will pay out the gift incrementally over a 20-year period.

The broadcasting mogul has promised more than $100-million to higher education so far this year. Last month Mr. Rogers pledged an unrestricted $20-million to Idaho State University, in Pocatello (The Chronicle, November 5), and in September he increased a springtime pledge to the University of Arizona’s College of Law, in Tucson, from $20-million to $50-million (The Chronicle, September 24). He also made smaller gifts this past year to Carroll College, in Helena, Mont., and to the University of Nevada at Reno.

* Harvard University has publicly announced a $17-million gift made in April by Katherine B. Loker, whose father founded Star-Kist Foods. Mrs. Loker made the donation to help renovate the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library, where a reading room was recently named in her honor.

* A Texas couple has pledged $15-million to Southwestern University, in Georgetown, Tex., for scholarships. Jack Garey, owner of Garey Construction Company, and his wife, Camille, will hold the money in reserve and possibly invest it in order to increase the gift’s value, according to a university spokesperson. The liberal-arts institution will collect the gift upon the death of the surviving spouse.

* Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y., has announced two gifts earmarked for its $200-million campaign to endow scholarships. George D. Cornell, a retired banker — and a descendant of the university’s founder, Ezra Cornell — and his wife, Harriet, contributed $10-million, as did Allan Tessler, co-chairman of Data Broadcasting Corporation, and his family. The university unveiled the campaign last month and has been promised $50-million from an anonymous donor if others give three times as much (The Chronicle, Nov. 5).

* Lafayette College, in Easton, Pa., has received $10-million from Walter Oechsle, founding principal of Oechsle International Advisors, in Boston, and his wife, Christa, to strengthen programs in psychology and behavioral neuroscience.

* The University of Central Florida, in Orlando, has received a pledge of $10-million from Harris Rosen, president of Tamar Inns, to establish a school of hospitality management. The hotelier said he would deliver on his promise as soon as a hotel he is building in Orlando opens. The hotel project is expected to take three years.

Other recent gifts:

California State U. at Fullerton: $1,000,000 from Paulina June Pollak of San Juan Capistrano, Cal., professor emeritus of English and comparative literature, and her husband, George, a retired management director at the San Diego Naval Ocean Systems Center, for the library.

Catawba College (N.C.): $2,000,000 from Sam Penninger of Alpharetta, Ga., chairman of Serologicals, a health-care company, for endowment and capital improvements.

Centre College (Ky.): $3,000,000 from David Grissom of Louisville, Ky., chairman of Mayfair Capital, a private-investment firm, to endow academic programs.

Children’s Hospital of Austin (Tex.): $1,000,000 from Michael Dell of Austin, chairman of Dell Computer Corporation, and his wife, Susan, to upgrade the imaging center, and a $1,000,000 bequest from Romney (Sam) O. Hodges, of Bertram, Tex., an electrician, for the capital campaign.

Clemson U. (S.C.): $4,000,000 from Milt Holcombe of Dallas, co-founder of Electrospace System Inc., a telecommunications and navigation-systems company, and his wife, Betty, for the College of Engineering and Science.

Gettysburg College (Pa.): $1,250,000 from David M. LeVan of Philadelphia, former president of Conrail, to endow a professorship in ethics and management.

Hospice of Northern Virginia: $1,600,000 bequest from the estates of Roy H. Halquist of Arlington, Va., an accountant and lawyer, and his wife, Margaret, for unrestricted use.

Madison County Community Foundation (Ind.): $1,000,000 from Harold J. Anderson of Anderson, Ind., a lawyer, and his wife, Hilda, for endowment.

Miami U. (Ohio): $4,500,000 bequest from the estate of Elizabeth Turner of Hamilton, Ohio, a retired high-school teacher, for scholarships for students in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies.

Pennsylvania State U.: $1,500,000 from Nicholas Pelick of Bellefonte, Pa., co-founder of Supelco Inc., which manufactures chromatography supplies and inorganic chemicals, and his wife, Gelsa, to endow a professorship in biochemistry at the Eberly College of Science.

State U. of New York at Binghamton: $2,100,000 from Marilyn Gaddis Rose of Binghamton, a professor of comparative literature, and her husband, Stephen Davis Ross, a professor of philosophy and comparative literature, for endowment.

Stratford Academy (Ga.): $1,000,000 from Edmund Olson of Macon, Ga., former publisher of The Macon Telegraph, and his wife, Beverly, for a new library and technology center. Stratford Academy is a preparatory school for students from prekindergarten through 12th grade.

Thomas Jefferson U.(Pa.): $2,200,000 from Dorrance (Dodo) Hamilton of Wayne, Pa., director of 218 Enterprises, to expand medical-oncology and surgical programs at the university’s hospital.

U. of Arizona: $5,000,000 from Helen Lovaas of Temecula, Cal., chief executive officer of Hudson Oxygen Therapy Sales, to endow research and treatment programs at the Sarver Heart Center, and a bequest valued at $2,000,000 from the estate of Naomi Riddle of Bel Air, Cal., widow of the arranger and composer Nelson Riddle, for a professorship at the School of Music and Dance; the gift includes cash, musical scores, royalty payments, and awards.

U. of Florida: $2,000,000 from Allen Lastinger of Jacksonville, Fla., retired president of Barnett Bank, and his wife, Delores, for the Center for the Education of Children, and $2,000,000 from L. Gale Lemerand of Daytona Beach, Fla., president of Gale Industries, for athletics.

U. of Illinois: $1,400,000 from Alan Gingold of Wayzata, Minn., an investment banker, and his wife, Roni, to endow a professorship in speech communication; $1,000,000 from Harlan E. Anderson of New Canaan, Conn., general partner of Anderson Investment Company, and his wife, Lois, to endow research in applying technology to education; $1,000,000 from Harold E. Buckler of Champaign, Ill., retired chairman of C. S. Johnson Company, and his wife, Lillian, for scholarships for students at the Urbana-Champaign campus who play varsity sports; $1,000,000 from John D. Nyquist of Springville, Iowa, retired vice-president of the radio company now known as Rockwell Collins Inc., and his wife, Alice, to endow a joint program between the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and Rockwell Collins; $1,000,000 from John E. (Bud) Velde of Omaha, president of Paisano Productions, and his wife, Gretchen, to endow the library; and $1,000,000 from Dene W. Zahn of Atherton, Cal., a former insurance executive and founder of Zahn Galleries, and his wife, Marie, for endowment.

U. of Missouri at Columbia: $1,200,000 from Edgar A. McLaughlin of Cupertino, Cal., a retired advertising executive, and his wife, Lucile, to endow a professorship in public-affairs journalism, and $1,100,000 from the family of the late Marvin Millsap of Lexington, Mo., a teacher and entrepreneur, to establish a professorship in family diversity and multicultural studies and a professorship in gerontology and public policy.

U. of Southern California: $5,000,000 from Robert Zemeckis of Santa Barbara, Cal., the movie director, to create a digital-arts facility at the School of Cinema-Television.

U. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas: $1,000,000 from Edmund M. Hoffman of Dallas, former co-chairman of the Southwest division of the Coca-Cola Bottling Group, and his wife, Adelyn, to establish a professorship.

Weber State U. (Utah): $6,500,000 from John B. Goddard of Ogden, Utah, founder of Western Mortgage Loan Corporation and United Savings Bank, and his wife, Geraldine, to endow the College of Business and Economics, and $5,000,000 from William R. Kimball of San Francisco, and his sister, Barbara W. Browning of Ogden, to help construct a visual-arts center.