Minn. University Gets $50-Million; Other Big Gifts

Four non-profit organizations have received big gifts.

* Richard M. Schulze, founder of Best Buy Company, and his wife, Sandra, have given $50-million to the University of Saint Thomas, in St. Paul.

The couple designated the gift for entrepreneurial-education programs, scholarships, and the School of Law, which is scheduled to open next year.

Mr. Schulze, a St. Paul native, said he had hoped to attend Saint Thomas when he graduated from high school but went to work for his father’s electronics company instead. He has been a member of the university’s Board of Trustees since 1995.

* Thomas M. Siebel, founder of the business-software company Siebel Systems, has given $32-million to the University of Illinois to build a computer-science center at the Urbana campus.

The university expects to open the facility no later than 2003. The gift will enable the computer-science department to double the number of students and faculty members there, to 1,500 undergraduate students, 500 graduate students, and 70 teachers.

Mr. Siebel earned a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees from the university.

* The family of the late Edmond J. Safra, founder of the Republic New York Corporation and Republic National Bank of New York, has donated $30-million to Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Mr. Safra had been talking to university officials about making a large gift before he died in a fire at his Monte Carlo home last December. The gift will endow both capital improvements and the purchase of scientific equipment at the Givat Ram campus, which will be renamed in Mr. Safra’s honor.

* Henry Ford’s grandson William Clay Ford has given $25-million to the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village, in Dearborn, Mich.

Mr. Ford, a director of Ford Motor Company and owner of the Detroit Lions, earmarked the money for the institution’s renovation and expansion.

Other recent gifts:

Childhelp USA (Ariz.): $2,500,000 from Julie Wrigley of Glenbrook, Nev., chief executive officer of Wrigley Investments, to help construct a residential-treatment facility in Phoenix for abused children.

Library Foundation of Los Angeles (Calif.): $1,000,000 from Flora L. Thornton of Beverly Hills, Cal., an actress and the widow of Charles (Tex) Thornton, founder of the engineering company Litton Industries, for endowment.

Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.): $5,000,000 bequest from the estate of Frederick Wiedman Jr. of Rochester, N.Y., a lawyer, for professorships at the College of Science.

South Texas Institute for the Arts: $1,000,000 from William Miller of Corpus Christi, Tex., owner of the Suemar Corporation, an oil and gas company, and his wife, Maureen, to help construct a facility that will house education programs.

U. of Georgia: $1,300,000 bequest from the estates of Reginald Kicklighter of Hagen, Ga., a chemist, and his wife, Edna, for scholarships and fellowships. The gift also supported a December visit from Mikhail Gorbachev.

Wayne State U. (Mich.). $5,000,000 from Robert M. Ligon of East China Township, Mich., co-founder of L & L Products, which makes gaskets for automobiles, and his wife, Gerry, to establish a center for vision research.