A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Two billionaire donors, David Geffen and Ken Griffin, have joined forces to give the cancer center a combined gift of $400 million through their grant makers, the Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund and the David Geffen Foundation. The donors declined to disclose how much each was giving.
The combined gift will go toward helping the New York institution expand its research efforts, clinical care for cancer patients, and establish stronger cancer-prevention and surveillance programs. The donation will also be used to develop new technologies aimed at helping medical professionals gain better insight into patients’ experiences from early detection through active treatment and survivorship.
Griffin founded Citadel Investment Group, a Miami hedge fund. Geffen founded Asylum Records, Geffen Records, and Geffen Pictures and co-founded DreamWorks Pictures with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
The two men are longtime donors to big institutions like universities, medical centers, and arts and culture groups. Geffen has appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors six times since 2002, and Griffin appeared on the 2014 list.
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System
Gerald and Karen Kolschowsky gave $25 million through their Gerald A. and Karen A. Kolschowsky Foundation to support the construction of what will be named the Kolschowsky Research and Education Institute, a medical training and research center for physicians, nurses, and students. It is scheduled to open in 2025.
The couple have been donors to the health system for 20 years, and Karen Kolschowsky was treated for cancer by one of the system’s doctors 15 years ago.
“Literally I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Dr. Fiorica,” Karen Kolschowsky said in a news release. “I went to see him on a Tuesday ... the test results came back on Wednesday, and on Thursday he put me in the hospital and operated on me, and basically saved my life.”
Gerald Kolschowsky is a retired chairman and co-CEO of OSI Group, an Aurora, Ill., company that provides processed meats, poultry, and related products to the retail and food-service industries.
Howard University
Carrie Walton Penner and Gregory Penner gave $20 million to support the GRACE (Graduation Retention Access to Continued Excellence) Grant Endowed Fund, a program that provides a 100 percent match to first-time undergraduate students who receive the maximum Pell Grant from the federal government, and provides additional funds to students whose families cannot pay for any portion of the student’s education.
Carrie Walton Penner is a granddaughter of Sam and Helen Walton, the late founders of Walmart, and a former education program officer for the Walton Family Foundation. She is also, along with her husband, a part owner of Denver Broncos where Gregory Penner serves as the NFL football team’s CEO.
He is also chairman of Walmart and founded Madrone Capital Partners, an investment firm in Menlo Park, Calif. Before he became chairman of the international retailer, Gregory Penner worked as a store employee and eventually became the CFO of Walmart Japan.
Chicago Scots
Richard and Robin Colburn gave $14 million through their Negaunee Foundation to renovate and expand the nonprofit senior care organization’s main assisted living facility, the Scottish Home at Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care, in North Riverside, Ill.
The renovations are meant to help seniors who live there better interact with each other and forge stronger social connections. The project is part of the charity’s broader effort to relieve the social distress brought about by loneliness and isolation that is common among the elderly.
Richard Colburn is a private investor and president of Henley Management Company, a holding company in Northbrook, Ill. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Consolidated Electrical Distributors, an Irving, Texas, equipment wholesaler owned by his family.
Oregon Health & Science University Foundation
Helene Ettelson left $13 million to support cancer and dermatology faculty programs. Ettelson died last year. She was a former model and heiress to a San Francisco hotel fortune.
Her late husband, businessman George Ettelson, died in 2007 after battling acute myeloid leukemia. His father, Dr. Jesse Ettelson, taught at the university’s outpatient clinic, and his maternal grandfather, Adolphe Wolfe, co-founded Lipman Wolfe & Company, a Portland, Ore., department store chain that later became Frederick & Nelson. It closed in 1992.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.