A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:
African Parks Foundation of America
Rob and Melani Walton pledged $100 million through their Rob and Melani Walton Foundation to help support environmentally protected areas in Africa. Of the total, $75 million will go toward endowing the nonprofit and $25 million will be used for immediate needs in the parks under the nonprofit’s management. African Parks is a conservation group in Johannesburg that manages 19 protected areas covering 14.7 million hectares in several African countries.
Rob Walton is a retired chairman of the board of Walmart, the retail giant founded by his parents, Sam and Helen Walton. He joined Walmart in 1969 and held a variety of positions, including senior vice president, corporate secretary, general counsel, and vice chairman. Prior to joining Walmart, he was a partner with Conner & Winters, a law firm in Tulsa, Okla.
Cornell University
Peter and Stephanie Nolan gave $50 million to establish the Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration and to support scholarships. Peter Nolan earned a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from the university in 1980 and 1982, respectively. Stephanie Nolan earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell in 1984. Their children are also Cornell graduates.
Peter Nolan founded and leads Nolan Capital, an investment firm in Hermosa Beach, Calif. He is also senior adviser at Leonard Green & Partners, a private-equity firm in Los Angeles. Stephanie Nolan previously worked for the L’Ermitage Hotel Group and was the resident manager of the Sunset Marquis, a luxury hotel in West Hollywood, Calif.
Iowa State University
C.G. (Turk) Therkildsen and Joyce A. McEwen Therkildsen pledged $42 million to the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering for a new building that will house classrooms and research laboratory spaces.
The Therkildsens are the semiretired CEO and chairman and corporate secretary, respectively, of Industrial Hard Chrome, a Geneva, Ill., manufacturer of chrome-plated rods and tubing. After serving in various engineering and management posts at several companies, Turk Therkildsen joined Industrial Hard Chrome as a general manager in 1974. The couple bought the company in 1985.
Prior to her role at Industrial, Joyce Therkildsen taught junior high and high school and served as an athletics coach. The couple are members of the class of 1959. Turk Therkildsen earned a degree in industrial engineering, and Joyce Therkildsen earned a degree in zoology and physical education.
Miami Foundation
Jorge and Darlene Pérez donated their family home, which was subsequently sold for $33 million. All the proceeds from the sale of the bayfront home will go toward supporting a variety of causes in Miami.
Jorge Pérez co-founded and leads the Related Group, a real-estate development company in Miami. Earlier in his career, he served as economic development director for the city of Miami. He served on the Miami Foundation’s Board of Trustees from 1991 through 1996, helping to steer the grant maker through the city’s recovery from Hurricane Andrew.
In 2015 he established the Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation at the Miami Foundation. Through their foundation, the couple support Miami-area charities focused on health and well-being, education, the environment, and economic development.
Special Olympics
Thomas Golisano pledged $30 million to expand the Special Olympics Healthy Communities program, which provides health services globally for people with intellectual disabilities.
Golisano founded Paychex, a Rochester, N.Y., company that provides businesses with benefits, human-resources, and payroll services. Golisano, who has a son with an intellectual disability, is a longtime supporter of the nonprofit and has given extensively to charity over the years. He has appeared on the Chronicle’s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the most generous donors three times since 2002.
University of Cincinnati
Jim Goetz gave $25 million to support computer-science programs, scholarships for high-achieving students from Cincinnati Public School high schools, the hiring of more computer-science faculty, and other efforts.
Goetz is a partner at Sequoia Capital, a Menlo Park, Calif., venture-capital firm that is famous for making early investments in Apple, Oracle, Google, LinkedIn, and many other Silicon Valley technology companies that are now household names. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from the university in 1988. The university’s engineering building will be named for Thomas Mantei, an emeritus professor of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, whom Goetz credited with his success.
“Dr. Mantei was a critical mentor in my life. He advocated for me, helped me believe in myself, and helped me realize my potential,” Goetz said in a news release. “I remain in his debt.”
University of Florida Health
Lee and Lauren Fixel donated $25 million through their Lauren and Lee Fixel Family Foundation. The gift will expand the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases and encourage growth in the areas of national and international telemedicine, Alzheimer’s disease clinical research, and research programs in mental health, traumatic brain injury, and ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease).
Lee Fixel founded the venture-capital firm Addition, which invests in technology companies. He previously led the private-equity division of Tiger Global Management, a New York investment firm where he was a partner.
The institute is named for Lee Fixel’s father, Norman, who earned a bachelor’s degree in business from the university in 1975. Lauren Fixel is also a UF graduate, with a 2007 bachelor’s degree in journalism.
Brown University
Shauna McKee Stark gave $5 million to support programs at the Pembroke Center and endow the center’s director position. The research center focuses on the study of gender and sexuality.
Stark is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who is the founding investor of the Establishment, a feminist alternative news and culture website that launched in 2015. Earlier in her career, Stark was a financial analyst and financial planning manager. She graduated from Brown in 1976 and serves on the Pembroke Center Advisory Council.
Mount Sinai Health System
Bob and Renee Parsons donated $5 million through their Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation to support the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The money will be used to develop training and education for therapists using MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and other psychedelic medicine approaches.
The donation will also support the development of protocols to deliver MDMA in the context of group psychotherapy for veterans with PTSD, establish a postgraduate fellowship program, and support the center’s successful MINDSET lecture series.
MDMA is a psychoactive drug that has been illegal in the United States since 1985, but the Food and Drug Administration recently authorized clinical trials into the therapeutic potential of the drug for patients with post-traumatic stress disorders.
Bob Parsons co-founded the website domain company GoDaddy. The Parsons are prolific philanthropists and appeared on the Chronicle‘s annual Philanthropy 50 list of the biggest donors in 2018.
New York Law School
Zygi Wilf gave $5 million through his Zygmunt and Audrey Wilf Foundation to establish the New York Law School Wilf Impact Center for Public Interest Law and create the Wilf Impact Scholars Program. The Wilf Impact Center will house the law school’s programs that aim to expand access to justice, eliminate barriers to equal opportunity, and enhance the quality of public services and legal representation.
Wilf is a billionaire real-estate developer who is the chairman and a co-owner of the Minnesota Vikings, a professional football team. Wilf earned a law degree from the school in 1974.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.
