$50-Million to Benefit Calif. Schools; Other Gifts

Eight institutions have received big gifts:

• The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools has received a pledge of $50-million from Richard Lundquist, owner and president of Continental Development Corporation, a commercial real-estate development and management company in El Segundo, Calif., and his wife, Melanie. The charity was founded by the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio R. Villaraigosa, to support and manage public schools. The Lundquists will donate $5-million each year for 10 years to support several areas, including teacher training and support, student and community programs, and accountability systems to track the schools’ performance.
• The University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, has received a pledge of $30-million from Ronald Tutor, president of Tutor-Saliba Corporation, a construction company in Sylmar, Calif., to help build a new campus center, comprising offices, work and meeting spaces, study rooms, and a cafe. Mr. Tutor, a member of the university’s Board of Trustees, graduated in 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in finance. He is also chairman of the Perini Corporation, a construction company in Framingham, Mass.
• Bennington College, in Vermont, has received an unrestricted pledge of $20-million from Susan Paris Borden, vice chairman of Bumper Development Corporation, a gasoline and oil company in Calgary, Canada, and her husband, Robert, chairman of the company. The money will help the college create a new curriculum that focuses on citizenship and policy development through experiential learning. Ms. Borden studied economics at Bennington College in the 1960s.
• Dartmouth Medical School, in Hanover, N.H., and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, in Lebanon, N.H., have received an unrestricted pledge of $20-million from Peter Williamson, a professor of neurology at the medical school and director of the medical center’s epilepsy program, and his wife, Susan, for its capital campaign. Dr. Williamson graduated from Dartmouth College in 1958 with a bachelor’s degree in zoology. In 2004 the Williamsons pledged $1-million to endow a professorship in neurology.
• Iowa Western Community College, in Council Bluffs, has received 105 acres of land valued at $18-million from John A. Wiebe, a real-estate developer who owned a construction company in Omaha. The college has not yet announced how it will use the land.
• The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, in Connecticut, has received a bequest of $14-million from the estate of John Davis Murphy, retired chairman and chief executive officer of the Wiremold Company, an electrical-products manufacturer in West Hartford, to add to a fund he established with his wife, Edith. The fund will give money to arts, education, environmental groups, health-care and research, and human-rights groups, as well as organizations that help alleviate hunger. Ms. Murphy died in March at the age of 97; her husband died in April at age 95.
• McDonough School, a private school in Owings Mills, Md., has received a pledge of $10-million from Edward A. St. John, founder and president of St. John Properties, a commercial real-estate development company in Baltimore, to help build a new student center. Mr. St. John’s children attended McDonough in the 1970s.
• Webster University, in St. Louis, has received $10-million from George H. Walker III, chairman emeritus of Stifel Financial Corporation and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, a financial-services corporation in St. Louis, and a former U.S. ambassador to Hungary, to support its School of Business and Technology. Mr. Walker is a former chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees.

Other recent gifts:

American Family Children’s Hospital (Madison, Wis.): $3-million from George A. Fait, retired founder of Capitol Indemnity Corporation and Capitol Transamerica Corporation, both insurance companies in Madison, and his family to support the hospital’s pediatric-specialty clinic.

Canisius College (Buffalo, N.Y.): $5.1-million from Carl J. Montante, founder and president of Uniland Development Company, a real-estate development firm in Amherst, N.Y., his wife, Carol Ann, and their family to help build a residence hall named for the Rev. Paul J. Dugan, the college’s moderator of athletics.

Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia): $1.5-million matching gift from Aaron Rosand, who teaches violin at the institute, and his wife, Monica Woo, president of Consumer Floral Brand at 1-800-Flowers.com, an online floral shop based in Carle Place, N.Y., to endow a professorship in violin studies. Mr. Rosand graduated from the Curtis Institute in 1948.

Emporia State U. (Kan.): $1.9-million bequest from the estate of Martha Kruse Furbur, a retired librarian at the Orange County Public Library, in Santa Ana, Calif., to endow scholarships in the School of Library and Information Management. Ms. Furbur, who received her library certificate at the university in 1938, died last year at the age of 92.

Greater Baltimore Medical Center (Towson): $3-million from William E. Kahlert, co-founder and retired chairman of Evapco, a manufacturer of air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment in Taneytown, Md., to endow a chair in urological research.

Iowa State U. (Ames): $1.8-million from Bruce Rastetter, founder and chief executive officer of Hawkeye Renewables, an ethanol-production company in Ames, for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The gift will endow a professorship in entrepreneurship and help renovate part of a building to house the entrepreneurship program. Mr. Rastetter also founded Heartland Pork, a meat producer in Alden, Iowa.

Johnson County Community College (Overland Park, Kan.): $1.3-million from Jon Stewart, president of Metcalf Bank, in Overland Park, for a speaker series. Mr. Stewart, who graduated from the college in 1982, gave the money in honor of the late Barton P. Cohen, president of Metcalf Bancshares, who died last year at the age of 76.

Kingswood-Oxford School (West Hartford, Conn.): $1-million bequest from the estate of John Davis Murphy, retired chairman and chief executive officer of the Wiremold Company, an electrical-products manufacturer in West Hartford, to help establish a new math, science, and technology center. Mr. Murphy, who graduated from the school in 1930, died in April at the age of 95.

Northfield Mount Hermon School (Mass.): $1-million from an anonymous donor. The school will use the money for academic programs and faculty and student support. The donor graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon in 1973.

Oakwood Southshore Medical Center (Trenton, Mich.): $1-million from Anthony J. Pellegrino, founder of Transportation Services, a trucking company in Romulus, Mich., to support outreach and education, technology, and construction of a new pavilion.

Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego: $5-million from Frank R. Warren and his wife, Joanne, real-estate and banking investors in San Diego, and their family, to support its new surgical center. Ms. Warren was the first woman to serve as chairman of the hospital’s Board of Trustees.

Teach for America-Los Angeles: $4-million pledge from Richard Lundquist, owner and president of Continental Development Corporation, a commercial real-estate development and management company in El Segundo, Calif., and his wife, Melanie, to support its programs and expansions.

U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: $4-million pledge from Leonard W. Wood and his business partners for the Center for Real Estate Development at its business school. The money will establish the Leonard W. Wood Foundation for Excellence in Real Estate, and will help recruit faculty and hire an executive director. Mr. Wood is a founding member of Wood Partners, an Atlanta company that develops and manages rental properties. The university also received $1-million from Sam Reeves, owner of Pinnacle Trading, in Fresno, Calif., and his wife, Betsy, to endow a professorship at its School of Social Work.

U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: $3-million from Richard Heckert, retired chief executive officer of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, a chemicals manufacturer in Wilmington, Del., and his wife, Joanna, to endow a chair and a fellowship in the department of chemistry. Mr. Heckert earned a master’s degree there in 1947 and a doctorate in 1949, both in chemistry. The university has also received a $2.5-million pledge from Victor Buhrke, founder of Buhrke Company, a consulting company in Portola Valley, Calif., and his wife, Janet, to endow scholarships, fellowships, and student research in the department of chemistry, with an emphasis on analytical and physical chemistry. Mr. Buhrke received his bachelor’s degree there in 1950, his master’s degree in 1952, and his doctorate in 1954, all in chemistry. Ms. Buhrke graduated in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. Additionally, Deborah Paul, senior licensing manager at Abbott Molecular, a medical laboratory in Des Plaines, Ill., has pledged $2-million to endow a professorship in human infectious diseases and immunology. Ms. Paul graduated from the university in 1979 with a master’s degree in biology.

Wartburg College (Waverly, Iowa): $1-million from Gerald R. Kleinfeld, a professor emeritus of history at Arizona State U., in Tempe, to endow a professorship in German history. Mr. Kleinfeld is the founder and former executive director of the German Studies Association, in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Williams College (Williamstown, Mass.): $5-million from Selim K. Zilkha, co-owner of Zilkha Biomass Energy, a company in Houston that uses wood-scrap products to produce energy, to create the Center for Environmental Initiatives. The new center will work to make the college’s campus and its operations environmentally sustainable through energy and waste management, reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions, and the involvement of students. Mr. Zilkha graduated from Williams in 1946.

To submit announcements of donations from individuals of $1-million or more, please send an e-mail message to gifts@philanthropy.com.