August 31, 2006 | Read Time: 5 minutes
Two institutions have received big gifts:
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Pierre Lassonde, president of Newmont Mining, in Denver, has given $13.25-million to the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City. The money establishes the Pierre Lassonde Entrepreneur Center. Mr. Lassonde received a master’s degree in business administration from the university in 1973, the same year his late wife, Claudette, earned her master’s degree in nuclear engineering there. Mr. Lassonde pledged $3-million in 2000 to found the New Venture Development Center, which is now a part of the new entrepreneur center.
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The Rhode Island Foundation, in Providence, received a $10-million bequest from Helen Walker Raleigh, who died last August at age 87. Ms. Walker, who inherited her money, requested that $3-million of the bequest go to support research on and treatment of macular degeneration, and another $3-million to support humane animal care, programs, services, and “no kill” shelters. Additionally, $2.5-million will support conservation of indigenous trees in Rhode Island, and $750,000 will support the endowment at the Providence Athenaeum. Another $750,000 will be split into equal endowments for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Providence; the Boy Scouts of America, Narragansett Council, in East Providence; and the Girl Scouts of Rhode Island, in Providence. Her husband, James C. Raleigh, a real-estate appraiser at G.L. and H.J. Gross, in Providence, died in 1997.
Other recent gifts:
Art Museum of South Texas (Corpus Christi): $2-million from William B. Miller, a retired president of Suemaur Corporation, an oil and gas company in Corpus Christi, and his wife, Maureen, to build an addition; and an unrestricted $1-million gift from John O. Chapman, a private investor and former cotton farmer in Corpus Christi, and his wife, Louise.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston: $2-million from Jerry Jordan, president of Hellman, Jordan Management, an equity-investment firm in Boston, and his wife, Darlene, executive director of the Gerald R. Jordan Foundation, in Boston. The money will support existing programs and add to the group’s endowment.
Enoch Pratt Free Library (Baltimore): $1-million from an anonymous donor to support capital improvements throughout the library’s 21 branches.
Environmental Defense (New York): $1.6-million unrestricted bequest from Arthur L. Jones, a private investor in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who asked that $8-million from his estate be divided equally among five organizations.
Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Paul): $1-million from Walter L. Youngquist, a retired petroleum geologist, to endow music scholarships named for his wife, Elizabeth, a retired music and English teacher. The Youngquists are both 1942 graduates of the college, and reside in Eugene, Ore.
Kansas State U. Foundation (Manhattan): $1.6-million pledge from Wright E. Cochran, a retired pilot for Trans World Airlines, and his wife, Jaclyn, a retired elementary-school teacher in Kansas City, Kan., to establish a scholarship fund for engineering students. The Cochrans are both 1960 graduates of the university.
Kenyon College (Gambier, Ohio): $1.5-million pledge from Dan E. and Gail Patterson, to help build a weight and fitness center within the athletic facility. Mr. Patterson graduated from the college in 1974; he is the president of Transition Capital Partners, a private-equity firm in Dallas, and Ms. Patterson is the owner of Proxy Communications, also in Dallas.
Land Trust Alliance (Washington): $1-million pledge from Forrest Berkley, a former partner at Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Company, an investment-management firm in Boston, and his wife, Marcie Tyre. Mr. Berkley requested that $500,000 go to endow the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The remaining $500,000 will pay for training programs to prepare land-trust organizations for the accreditation process.
Montana State U. (Bozeman): $1-million from Joel T. Long, founder of the JTL Group, a construction company in Belgrade, Mont., to endow a professorship in civil engineering. Mr. Long graduated from the university in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in physics, and received a master’s degree in engineering there in 1967.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Norfolk, Va.): $1.6-million unrestricted bequest from Arthur L. Jones, a private investor in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who asked that $8-million from his estate be divided equally among five organizations.
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (Washington): $1.6-million unrestricted bequest from Arthur L. Jones, a private investor in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who asked that $8-million from his estate be divided equally among five organizations.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (New York): $1.6-million unrestricted bequest from Arthur L. Jones, a private investor in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who asked that $8-million from his estate be divided equally among five organizations.
Stonehill College (Easton, Mass.): $1.2-million from Lawrence Salameno, executive vice president and director of Permal Asset Management, in New York, and his wife, Theresa, to create an endowed chair in the history department. The couple’s daughter, Francesca, graduated from the college last year.
Towson U. (Md.): $1-million from Willard Hackerman, president of the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, in Baltimore, to establish an academy of mathematics and science. The new school will provide advanced training in math and science to Maryland teachers and attract students to engineering, mathematics, science, and technology.
U. of California at Merced: $1-million from Rajender Reddy, a cardiologist in Hanford, Calif., and his wife, Jhansi, president of Raj Properties, a real-estate company in Hanford, to support the student-health center.
U. of Florida (Gainesville): $3-million from Charlie Mack Overstreet, a land owner and rancher in Kathleen, Fla., to the department of ophthalmology, for research on age-related macular degeneration. Mr. Overstreet was treated for the disease by a doctor at the university’s hospital in 2004.
U. of Kentucky (Lexington): $6-million pledge from Joe Craft, president of Alliance Resource Partners, a coal-producing and marketing company, in Tulsa, Okla., to build a new basketball-practice facility. Mr. Craft graduated from the university in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, and received a law degree there in 1976.
U. of Miami School of Medicine: $1-million pledge from Barry K. Schwartz, a co-founder and former chief executive officer of Calvin Klein, and his wife, Sheryl, to establish the Jay Weiss Center for Social Medicine and Health Equity, which will study health disparities between rich and poor people and create a new residency program.
Wycliffe Foundation (Orlando): $1-million bequest from David R. Miller, a self-employed handyman from Orange, Calif., who died in October 2004 at the age of 89. Mr. Miller requested that his money support Wycliffe Bible Translators USA, which promotes Bible translation worldwide.
