A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:
Amherst College
An anonymous donor gave $50 million to support the college’s new interdisciplinary science center, which opened earlier this month, and tohire more faculty and providing scholarships and other forms of financial aid.
St. John’s College
Warren and Barbara Winiarski pledged $50 million through their Winiarski Family Foundation for the university’s efforts to reduce the cost of tuition and increase need-based financial aid.
The couple structured the gift so that the college must raise an additional $50 million from other donors.
Warren Winiarski founded Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars and owns Arcadia Vineyards in the Napa Valley region of California. He gained fame when his 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon won the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, the legendary contest known as “the Judgment of Paris,” which pitted French and California wines against each other in a blind taste test judged by French wine experts. A bottle of that cabernet is included in the book Smithsonian’s History of America in 101 Objects.
Vanderbilt University
Lee and Ramona Bass donated $25 million through their Lee and Ramona Bass Foundation to support up to 40 scholarships for military veterans pursuing graduate and professional degrees in law, management, education, medicine, and nursing.
Lee Bass is an heir to an oil fortune and former commissioner of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He is the primary steward of the historic El Coyote Longhorn Ranch in Kingsville, Texas, and has served on the Vanderbilt Board of Trust since 2009. His son, Perry Bass II, graduated from Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science in 2010.
New York Public Library
Leonard Polonsky gave $12 million through his foundation for a permanent exhibition of holdings from the library’s research collections.
The Polonsky Exhibition of the New York Public Library’s Treasures is expected to open in fall 2020 at the library’s main building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.
Polonsky founded the Liberty Life Assurance Company, in London, in 1970 and Hansard Global, a financial-services company.
University of Central Florida
Vince and Joyce Virga pledged nearly $10.3 million for programs in the College of Business and UCF Athletics.
Vince Virga co-founded and leads SkillStorm Commercial Services, a technology-services company. The couple are alums of the university. He graduated in 1995, and she graduated in 1998.
Houston Baptist University
Stewart Morris Sr. donated $10 million to establish the Morris Family Center for Law & Liberty and will pay for an academic building modeled after Independence Hall.
Morris, who is 98, has worked for Stewart Title, his family’s insurance company, for 80 years, serving as president and co-chief executive officer and taking on other roles over the years. He is not an alumnus but helped found the university in 1960.
Milwaukee Ballet
Donald and Donna Baumgartner gave $10 million for the ballet company and its affiliated school’s new headquarters, which is scheduled to open next fall. The new building will be named the Baumgartner Center for Dance and will house classroom and rehearsal space and administrative offices.
Donald Baumgartner founded Paper Machinery Corporation, which manufactures machines used to produce paperboard cups and other containers, in 1951. His first gift to an arts organization was a $3,000 donation to the Milwaukee Ballet in the 1970s.
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Ann Bowers gave $5 million to endow the CMS Two residency program, which focuses on developing the next generation of young musicians. The program will be renamed for the donor.
Bowers is the widow of Robert Noyce, a co-founder of Intel. She was the first director of personnel at Intel and was the first woman to hold a vice president title in Silicon Valley, at Apple.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated throughout the week.
