A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Rodger and Paula Riney gave $40 million through their Paula and Rodger Riney Foundation to support multiple myeloma research programs.
Rodger Riney is the founder of the brokerage firm Scottrade Financial Services. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells, in 2015.
“My own journey as a myeloma patient, and knowing how many others are also living with this disease, has led us to seek out the individuals, teams, and organizations that are on the leading edge of research,” Rodger Riney said in a news release. “There is no time to waste in the pursuit of better understanding, treatment, and cures.”
With this donation, the couple have given Dana-Farber a total of $60 million through their foundation to date, including $16.5 million in 2019 to establish the Riney Family Multiple Myeloma Initiative, an effort aimed at better understanding the underlying biology for the most challenging types of myelomas.
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation
Irwin and Joan Jacobs pledged $20 million to the civil-rights group’s Bill of Rights endowment fund. The money will back lawsuits aimed at defending democracy and safeguarding Americans’ constitutional rights and the organization’s efforts to bring important cases to the Supreme Court. ACLU officials have named the organization’s docket of Supreme Court cases for the Jacobses, who are longtime ACLU supporters.
Irwin Jacobs co-founded the wireless technology giant Qualcomm in 1985. He was a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of California at San Diego from 1966 to 1972, and during that time, he co-founded the Linkabit Corporation, which developed a satellite-encryption device.
The couple are prolific donors who have given to a variety of causes over the years. They have appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors 15 times since their first appearance on the list in 2002.
Brandeis University
Bobbi Samuels and her family gave $10 million through their Samuels Family Foundation to establish and endow the Vic and Bobbi Samuels ’63 Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation, which will support civic and community engagement among Brandeis students, faculty, and staff.
Bobbi Samuels and her late husband, Vic, met at Brandeis and got married the week after they graduated in 1963. Bobbi Samuels started her career as a high-school English teacher and spent decades as a professor of reading and language arts. Vic Samuels, who died in 2020, taught history early in his career and went on to start several businesses in the packaging, building products, and furniture industries.
University of California at San Diego Health
Darlene Shiley gave $10 million to the expansion of the clinical space and function of the Shiley Eye Institute, which opened 30 years ago with foundational support from Shiley and her late husband.
Shiley is the widow of Donald Shiley, the inventor of Pfizer’s Bjork-Shiley heart valve and the founder of Shiley Inc., a medical-device manufacturer in Irvine, Calif., that was sold to Pfizer in 1979. Donald Shiley died in 2010.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.