A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:
Summer Science Program
Franklin Antonio left approximately $200 million to this nonprofit, which provides advanced science-immersion experiences for high-school seniors. Students who participate in the summer program work on collaborative research projects in astrophysics, biochemistry, and genomics at several U.S. research universities including Indiana University, New Mexico State University, Purdue University, University of Colorado at Boulder, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The money will be used to expand the organization’s offerings and support financial aid for students who couldn’t otherwise afford to pay for the program.
Antonio, an SSP alum from the class of 1969, was a scientist who helped found the San Diego technology giant Qualcomm. He earned a bachelor’s degree in applied physics and information science from the University of California at San Diego in 1974.
While there, he was a student of Irwin Jacobs, who at that time was a professor of computer science and engineering and a co-founder of Linkabit, a satellite-encryption device maker. Antonio went on to work for Jacobs at Linkabit for 12 years and then helped Jacobs and Andrew Viterbi launch Qualcomm in 1985. Antonio died last year. He was 69.
University of California at San Diego
Jim and Marilyn Simons gave $28.8 million through their Simons Foundation to complete the final phase of construction of the Simons Observatory, which the university is building in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The couple gave $38.4 million in 2016 and $20 million in 2019 to support the construction and operations of the observatory.
James Simons founded Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund. A respected mathematician, he worked as a code breaker for the National Security Agency in 1964 and as a researcher for the Communications Research Division of the Institute for Defense Analyses. He served as chairman of the mathematics department at Stony Brook from 1968 to 1978.
In addition to the latest gift, the Simons’ daughter Elizabeth (Liz) Simons and her husband, Mark Heising, gave $1.5 million through their Heising-Simons Foundation for the observatory. Heising founded Medley Partners, an investment firm, and VLSI Cores, a company that designs and licenses cryptographic integrated circuits.
Narrative4
Jacklyn and Miguel Bezos gave $25 million through their Bezos Family Foundation to this international education group that provides schools with tools to teach compassion and civic engagement. The gift will support programs that encourage U.S. students to get more involved in their communities.
Jacklyn Bezos is the mother of Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon. Miguel Bezos, Jeff Bezos’s stepfather, spent 32 years working as an engineer and manager with the oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil. The couple have given extensively to nonprofits in recent years and appeared on the Chronicle’s most recent Philanthropy 50, a list of the biggest donors of the year.
University of Maryland
Alice Clark gave $20.6 million through her A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation to make the university’s engineering school the permanent home of the Clark Scholars Program Network, which provides scholarships to engineering students at U.S. universities who have the potential to become leaders and are interested in community service.
Clark is a philanthropist and long-time donor to the university and appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 earlier this year. She is the widow of Alfred James Clark, who led the Clark Construction Group, a Bethesda, Md., company. He died in 2015. Alice Clark plans to spend down the foundation’s assets and close it by the end of 2025.
Harvard University
Antonio Gracias gave $16 million through his Gracias Family Foundation to establish a study of psychedelics in society and culture. The study will aim to broaden psychedelics research to include researchers, faculty, and students from across Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Divinity School and approach its work from a range of humanistic and social-scientific viewpoints. The gift will also endow a professorship and fellowships.
Gracias founded and leads Valor Equity Partners, a private-equity firm with headquarters in Chicago, and the investment firm MG Capital. He served as a director of Tesla from 2007 to 2021 and helped take the automobile manufacturer public. He is not a Harvard alumnus.
Fort Lewis College
Jane and Marc Katz gave $10.4 million to support a range of programs in the School of Business Administration, including financial aid, a student-run marketing agency, a faculty and student development fund, three endowed professorships, and a scholarship program for Indigenous business students.
Marc Katz co-founded with his brother, Jeff Katz, Mercury Payment Systems, a payment-processing company in Durango, Colo. The company was acquired by Vantiv in 2014 for more than $1.6 billion. Marc Katz is now retired.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.