A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:
Texas Children’s Hospital and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston billionaires Nancy and Richard Kinder pledged $150 million through their Kinder Foundation to launch the Kinder Children’s Cancer Center, which will be jointly run by these two Houston medical institutions. The donation kicks off a fundraising effort to build the new center and support research and patient care there.
Richard Kinder co-founded Kinder Morgan, an energy company headquartered in Houston. The couple have given extensively to Houston-area nonprofits, donating significant sums to city parks, education programs, and efforts that aim to improve the quality of life for Houston residents, especially those who live in underserved neighborhoods. The Kinders have appeared on the Chronicle‘s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the most generous donors eight times since 2013.
Georgetown University
William and Marjorie Berkley, and their son, W. Robert Berkley Jr., pledged $25 million through the Berkley Family Foundation to support the School of Nursing, which will be named for the Berkley family in the fall.
More than half of the total will be used to boost scholarships, and $7 million will go toward expanding nursing faculty and staff. The remainder, about $5 million, will establish a dean’s fund, and support student success and well-being programs and upgrades to classroom and lab technology.
William Berkley founded the W.R. Berkley Corporation, a property- and casualty-insurance holding company in Greenwich, Conn., in 1967 and ushered it through an initial public offering in 1974. He led the company as CEO for decades and now serves as its executive chairman. Robert Berkley, who graduated from the university in 1995, is the company’s president and CEO. He also serves on Georgetown’s Board of Directors and the university’s McDonough School of Business Board of Advisors.
Cleveland State University
Katherine and Walter McCombs left nearly $15 million to establish the Katherine F. McCombs and Walter Lee McCombs Transformative Impact Fund, which will help students in need cover tuition, room and board, and other costs. A small portion of the bequest will support the existing Walter Lee McCombs Endowed Scholarship Fund in the College of Law.
Walther McCombs graduated from the law school in 1976 and went on to serve as the divisional vice president for international taxes for the pharmaceutical giant Abbott Laboratories. He died in 2004 at 59. Katherine McCombs was a developmental psychologist who worked for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District early in the couple’s marriage. She died in 2022 at 72.
University officials said in a news release that Cleveland State was the only university to offer Walter McCombs a scholarship, and the couple left the bequest to honor that long-ago support.
National Constitution Center
The billionaire financier Kenneth Griffin gave $15 million through his Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund to establish two new galleries: one to highlight America’s founding principles and another focused on the separation of powers and federalism. The galleries are scheduled to open in 2026 as part of the center’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the founding document of the United States.
Griffin founded Citadel Investment Group, a Miami hedge fund. In addition to his cash gift, he is loaning the center his copy of the U.S. Constitution, one of 14 known original, official prints from which all subsequent printings of the final text of the Constitution originate, for public display through 2026.
He is also loaning the center a rare, first printing of 17 proposed constitutional amendments passed in 1789 by the U.S. House of Representatives for consideration by the Senate. After further debate, combination, elimination, and other revisions, Congress ended up sending 12 amendments to the states for ratification, 10 of which became the U.S. Bill of Rights.
Griffin primarily gives to higher education, medical centers, and cultural groups. He appeared on the Chronicle‘s 2014 Philanthropy 50 list for a $150 million donation he gave to Harvard University that year.
New York University Langone Health
The financier Len Blavatnik gave $15 million through his Blavatnik Family Foundation to support research led by Evgeny A. Nudler, Ph.D., the Julie Wilson Anderson Professor of Biochemistry in Langone’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology.
Blavatnik is a billionaire who founded Access Industries, an investment company with holdings in media and telecommunications, natural resources, chemicals, and real estate. Born in Ukraine during the Soviet era, Blavatnik grew up in Russia, where he attended what is now called the Russian University of Transport. He emigrated with his family to the United States in 1978 and earned degrees at Columbia and Harvard universities. He became a U.S. citizen in 1984 and also holds British citizenship.
Blavatnik gives extensively to higher education, scientific research, and arts and culture groups and he appeared on the Philanthropy 50 when he gave the University of Oxford more than $117 million in 2010 to establish the Blavatnik School of Government.
University of San Diego
Daniel and Phyllis Epstein pledged $10 million through their Epstein Family Foundation to establish the Epstein Family Foundation Military-Connected Center for Excellence and support programs aimed at helping military-connected students. The couple will match donations of up to $10 million from other donors.
Their donation will also boost scholarships, support efforts that expose students to issues that affect members of the military and their families; and back academic, mental health, and career counseling programs, and assistance to help students who have served in the military better transition to civilian life.
Daniel Epstein is a U.S. Army veteran who founded ConAm Management Corporation in 1975. The San Diego company develops and manages apartments and mixed-use real estate projects in Seattle and San Diego.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.
