New Cancer Center in St. Louis Receives $25-Million Pledge; Other Gifts

Five non-profit organizations have received big gifts.

* A cancer center under construction in St. Louis has received a $25-million pledge from Alvin J. Siteman, a banker and businessman, and his wife, Ruth.

The project combines the cancer programs of Barnes-Jewish Hospital and the Washington University School of Medicine. The Sitemans had given the hospital $10-million in 1997 for the center, which will now bear Mr. Siteman’s name.

* A couple who amassed $23-million have bequeathed their entire estate to benefit their hometown of Osgood, Ind., and its approximately 1,800 residents.

The Gilmore and Golda Reynolds Foundation is the sole beneficiary of its namesakes’ fortune. Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds, who died in 1990 and 1998, respectively, owned several businesses. They applied their savvy to the stock market after selling the last of their companies, a propane distributorship, in the 1960s. The couple had no children.

* The United Methodist Foundation of Arkansas, in Little Rock, has received an unrestricted $20-million bequest from the lawyer and banker Richard C. Butler.

The foundation, which raises money for Methodist organizations throughout the state, has put the gift into its endowment. Before the gift was made, the foundation’s assets had stood at $60-million, said Jim Argue, the executive director.

* Charles M. Lillis, chairman of the cable company MediaOne Group, and his wife, Gwen, have given $12-million to the University of Oregon, in Eugene, to expand the Lundquist College of Business.

Mr. Lillis earned a Ph.D. from the college in 1972. The donation will help to construct a complex that will provide additional classrooms, offices, and lecture halls.

* Columbia University, in New York, has received $11-million from Constance Lieber, and her husband, Stephen Lieber, an investment manager, to establish a center for schizophrenia research.

Mrs. Lieber is the president of the Board of Directors of the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, in Great Neck, N.Y. The couple, whose daughter has schizophrenia, also donated $1.5-million to establish a professorship in psychiatry.

Other recent gifts:

Arizona State U.: $5,000,000 from David Lincoln of Paradise Valley, Ariz., president of Arizona Oxides, and his wife, Joan, to expand the Center for Applied Ethics.

Art Institute of Chicago: $5,000,000 from Steven Goldman of Chicago, a lawyer, and his wife, Jean, a lecturer at the School of the Art Institute, to renovate the department of prints and drawings.

Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (N.Y.): $1,000,000 from Joe Firmage of Santa Clara, Cal., chairman of International Space Sciences Organization and founder of the US Web Corporation, for the Carl Sagan Discovery Center.

Cleveland Museum of Natural History: $1,000,000 from Nathan Shafran of Cleveland, vice-chairman of the real-estate company Forest City Enterprises, his wife, Fannye, and their children, for a new planetarium.

Colonial Williamsburg (Va.): $3,000,000 from Bill Kimball of Belvedere, Cal., president of William R. Kimball and Company, a management-consulting and securities-investment firm, and his wife, Gretchen, to restore a theater.

Dickinson College (Pa.): $4,000,000 bequest from the estate of Cora Rabinowitz Hurwitz of Philadelphia, a high-school teacher and guidance counselor whose late husband, Abraham, was a physician, to provide low-interest student loans.

Duke U. (N.C.): $2,000,000 from Kimberly J. Jenkins of Chevy Chase, Md., president of the Internet Policy Institute, to establish a professorship to examine the effects of high technology on society.

Florida State U. Foundation: $2,000,000 from Wayne Hogan of Jacksonville, Fla., a lawyer, and his wife, Pat, for the university’s law school and for scholarships for graduates of public schools in St. Johns County and students attending St. Johns River Community College.

Forsyth Country Day School (N.C.): $1,000,000 from Judy and Richard Childress of Clemmons, N.C., owners of stock-car racing teams, for the Activity Center.

George Fox U. (Ore.): $1,000,000 from a family wishing to remain anonymous, to endow faculty development.

George Washington U. (D.C.): $1,000,000 from Clifford Kendall of Potomac, Md., former chairman of Computer Data Systems, for a new facility at the School of Business and Public Management, and $1,000,000 from the talk-show host Larry King of Washington, to endow scholarships for graduate and undergraduate students at the School of Media and Public Affairs.

Hartford Hospital (Conn.): $1,000,000 from Harry Schwab of West Hartford, Conn., and his wife, Mildred, for the cardiology department.

Idaho State U.: $2,500,000 from Beverly Bistline of Pocatello, Idaho, a lawyer, to help construct a performing-arts center.

The Johns Hopkins U. (Md.): $1,000,000 from Ronald M. Nordmann of New York, a partner at Deerfield Management, and his daughter, Jodi, for scholarships at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

Memorial Hermann Healthcare System (Tex.): $2,000,000 from Margaret R. Bradshaw of Houston, widow of B. J. Bradshaw, a lawyer, to endow the Wellness Center.

Ohio U.: $5,800,000 from Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ of Dayton, Ohio, and Naples, Fla., founders of Systems Research Laboratories, to establish a biennial award in engineering.

Randolph-Macon Woman’s College (Va.): $1,127,000 from Robert Hampson of Franklin, Mich., a retired executive vice-president of Ford Motor Company, and his wife, Sadie (Puff), to endow a study-abroad program and to enhance the geography department.

Southern Methodist U. (Tex.): Charitable remainder trust valued at $2,500,000 from Logan Ford of Dallas, a retired lawyer, and his wife, Lee, for scholarships for students at the School of Law.

St. Lawrence U. (N.Y.): $1,000,000 from the actor Kirk Douglas of Beverly Hills, Cal., to endow scholarships for minority students.

Tulane U. (La.): $1,250,000 from H. Mortimer Favrot, Jr., of New Orleans, chairman of the real-estate developer Favrot & Shane Companies, to renovate the School of Architecture.

U. of California at San Francisco: $5,000,000 from F. Warren Hellman of San Francisco, an investment banker, and his wife, Chris, to endow faculty research projects.

U. of Minnesota-Twin Cities: $1,000,000 from Bob Kommerstad of Bradbury, Cal., chairman of Provident Investment Counsel, to establish a center for business law and entrepreneurship at the Law School.

U. of Nevada at Las Vegas: $5,000,000 from William G. Bennett of Las Vegas, owner of the Sahara Hotel and Casino, to build a preschool at the College of Education.

U. of Rochester (N.Y.): $2,000,000 from Robert L. Sproull of Rochester, N.Y., a physicist and president emeritus of the university, and his wife, Mary, to endow a discretionary fund for the dean of the faculty of arts, sciences, and engineering.

U. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas: $4,000,000 from Nancy Hamon of Dallas, widow of the oil-company executive Jake Hamon, to build a new student center.

U. of Utah: Stock valued at $1,500,000 from John E. Warnock of San Jose, Cal., co-chairman of Adobe Systems, and his wife, Marva, to endow a professorship in the computer-science department.

Wilkes U. (Pa.): $3,000,000 from Geraldine Nesbitt Orr of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., whose father-in-law was the businessman Abram Nesbitt II, for the capital campaign.