L.A. Couple Gives $100-Million to Create Genetics-Research Institute; Other Gifts

A Los Angeles couple has pledged $100-million to three academic institutions to found a biomedical research institute that will use human-genome discoveries to advance clinical medicine. The institute, in Cambridge, Mass., will be a joint venture of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

Eli and Edythe L. Broad said they would fulfill the pledge in installments over the next 10 years. The new institute is required to match the couple’s money with support from other sources. Mr. Broad is the founder of SunAmerica, a financial-services company in Los Angeles that is now a part of AIG.

Besides the research gift, the Broads have pledged $60-million to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Most of the money — $50-million — is earmarked for the construction of a new building that will house contemporary art. The remaining $10-million will go to the museum’s art-acquisition fund. The couple also plans to lend the museum more than 200 works of comtemporary art from their personal collection.

In addition, five organizations have also received large gifts and pledges:

• Arizona State University, in Tempe, has received a $50-million gift from Ira A. Fulton, chief executive officer of Fulton Homes, in Phoenix, for academic programs, faculty support, and scholarships at the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Mr. Fulton attended Arizona State, but never graduated.
• The International Center for Nursing, in Albany, N.Y., has received a $50-million pledge from Morris Silverman, founder of National Equipment Rental, in New York. The center, which is not yet built, will promote the profession of nursing, through scholarships, fund raising, and other programs, and will explore ways to raise respect for nurses. Mr. Silverman has established a fund that will provide $500,000 annually to the center for 100 years.
• The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has received $20.4-million from Jackson T. Stephens, owner and operator of Stephens Inc., a brokerage house in Little Rock, to construct an athletic center.
• The University of Houston has received $20-million from Cynthia Woods Mitchell and her husband, George, former chairman and chief executive officer of Mitchell Energy and Development Corporation, in The Woodlands, Tex., to establish an arts program. Ms. Mitchell is an alumna of the university.
• Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., is expected to receive a total of $15-million from Lila Ash and her husband, Roy, former director and president of Litton Industries, in Woodland Hills, Calif., to support the Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation in the Kennedy School of Government. Mr. and Mrs. Ash have thus far given the school $6-million; the rest has been pledged.

Other recent gifts:

Austen Riggs Center (Stockbridge, Mass.): $3-million from Evelyn Stefansson Nef, a psychotherapist and author in Washington, to promote research and professional development related to psychotherapy.

Boston Medical Center: $5-million from Missy Carter and her husband, Marshall, chairman of the center’s Board of Trustees, to support ambulatory cancer care and cancer-treatment technology.

California College of Arts and Crafts (San Francisco): $5-million from an anonymous member of the college’s Board of Trustees, to support the Center for Art and Public Life, an art-education center.

Emory U. (Atlanta): $2-million pledge from J.B. Fuqua, a businessman and a former Georgia state legislator, to endow a chair in late-life depression at the School of Medicine.

Minneapolis Foundation: $2.5-million unrestricted bequest from the estate of Jane Van Konynenburg and her husband, Francis, a founder of WCCO-TV, in Minneapolis. Ms. Van Konynenburg died in 1996; Mr. Konynenburg died in 2002.

Pennsylvania State U. (State College): $5.4-million from William B. Darrow, an alumnus and farmer in Honey Grove, Pa., to support programs in the College of Agricultural Sciences.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (New York): $3-million bequest from Zelda E. Segal, of Asheville, N.C., who died in February, to establish an endowment for educational programs; and $2-million in the form of an unrestricted charitable trust from Kate C. Moore, a speech pathologist in Massachusetts, who died in June 2002.

St. Lawrence U. (Canton, N.Y.): $5-million from an anonymous donor to construct new biology and chemistry buildings, including a greenhouse and an animal-behavior laboratory.

Trust for Public Land-California (San Francisco): $5-million pledge from Stephanie Sperling and her husband, Peter, founder and chairman of CallWave, an Internet and telephone-service provider, in Santa Barbara, to purchase and preserve land on the Gaviota Coast in Southern California.

U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: $5-million from Nancy Bryson and her husband, Vaughn, retired chief executive officer at Eli Lilly and Company, in Indianapolis, to establish a center for clinical genetics.