In Education: Record Gifts for U. of Louisville and Adrian College

The University of Louisville has received the largest pledge in its history, $25-million from liquor magnate and school trustee Owsley Brown Frazier, The Courier-Journal reports.

Most of the gift, to be paid within three years, will be put toward medical research, said Jim Ramsey, president of the Kentucky university, who says he will use the gift to try to attract $75-million in matching grants.

Mr. Frazier, the retired vice chairman of wine and spirits maker Brown-Forman Corp., earned law and business-administration degrees at Louisville. He is chairing the school’s $1-billion capital campaign, which with his gift has reached the $582-million mark.

In other education news:

• The estate of a former Adrian College trustee has donated $20-million to the school, writes The Daily Telegram of Adrian, Mich.

The gift from the estate of Willard M. Cornelius Sr., who served on the small private college’s board from 1931 to 1948, is the largest in Adrian’s history and will support financial aid and renovation of the college’s science and business buildings, among other things.

Mr. Cornelius, who developed automotive rust-proofing techniques that are still in use today, bequeathed to the school funds remaining in his estate after the death of his daughter, Ingrid Cornelius Roberts. Ms. Roberts, who also served as an Adrian trustee, died this fall.

• An anonymous $16.3-million gift will boost neuroscience programs at the University of Pennsylvania, reports the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The donation to Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine will be strengthen research into prevention, treatment, and management of addiction, depressive disorders, and neurodegenerative conditions, said Dr. Brian Strom, the school’s vice dean for institutional affairs.