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Recent Private Gifts to Higher Education: A Schoolteacher’s Bequest, Craigslist Founder’s Gift to CUNY

By Chronicle Staff June 17, 2018

Among the donors of 15 recent large gifts to colleges are the founder of Craigslist, the widow of the man who created the Weather Channel, a retired high-school teacher in Kansas, and a priest. Recipients of the gifts include a Lutheran and three Roman Catholic institutions. Along with the usual support for scholarships and building construction, the gifts described below were also aimed at causes like the prevention of bullying, opportunities for geology students to go on field excursions, and research on climate change.

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Among the donors of 15 recent large gifts to colleges are the founder of Craigslist, the widow of the man who created the Weather Channel, a retired high-school teacher in Kansas, and a priest. Recipients of the gifts include a Lutheran and three Roman Catholic institutions. Along with the usual support for scholarships and building construction, the gifts described below were also aimed at causes like the prevention of bullying, opportunities for geology students to go on field excursions, and research on climate change.

RankInstitution/organizationDonorDonor backgroundGift valuePurpose
1. National U. system T. Denny Sanford chairman of United National Corporation, the holding company of First Premier Bank and Premier Bankcard, in South Dakota $100 million expansion of the system’s nationwide Sanford Harmony social-emotional learning program aimed at helping children in preschool through sixth grade to form strong relationships and to avoid abuse, bullying behavior, and, later, divorce
2. United Lutheran Seminary Anonymous The donor, who died this year, made the gift in honor of the Rev. James Franklin Kelly, a Lutheran minister who graduated from the seminary, in Gettysburg, Pa., in 1920, and his wife, Hope Anna Eyster Kelly. The Rev. Kelly died in 1983, and his wife died in 1973. $30 million endowment of a new faculty chair and student scholarships
3. City U. of New York, Graduate School of Journalism Craig Newmark founder of the classified-advertising website Craigslist and the Craig Newmark Philanthropies $20 million fund for an endowment for the school, which will be renamed the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York
4. Wichita State U. Foundation I. Wayne and Kay Woolsey Wayne Woolsey is founder and chairman of Woolsey Companies, an oil and natural-gas exploration and production business, and Kay Woolsey is vice president and secretary of the company. Their son Marc is a Wichita State graduate. $12 million (pledge) $10 million to help construct a new building for the W. Frank Barton School of Business, which will be called the Wayne and Kay Woolsey Hall, and $2 million to support students’ field excursions and the geology-petroleum program in the geology department
4. Worcester Polytechnic Institute Anonymous Worcester Polytechnic alumnus $12 million (pledge) unrestricted use; the money will be put toward the university’s endowment
6. American Society of the U. of Haifa Lorry I. Lokey Lorry Lokey is the founder and chairman emeritus of Business Wire, a news-distribution company in San Francisco, which he sold to Berkshire Hathaway in 2006. $10 million support for construction of a new downtown campus of the university in the port area of Haifa, Israel
6. John Carroll U. Boler Family Foundation (John M. and Mary Jo Boler) The Boler family runs the Boler Company, which has holdings in the truck-parts manufacturing industry. The company was founded by John M. Boler, a 1956 John Carroll graduate who died in 2016. It is now led by his son Matthew. $10 million establishment of the John M. and Mary Jo Boler College of Business, a transformed version of the Boler School of Business, which will include two new schools: the School of Accountancy and Information Science, and the School of Leadership and Social Innovation
6. U. of Notre Dame Wilson Sheehan Foundation (Christopher and Lorraine Sheehan Wilson) Christopher Wilson is a senior partner at the hedge fund Stonehill Capital Management. The couple met while attending Notre Dame in the 1980s. $10 million support for the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities, a research center in the economics department that aims to reduce poverty in the United States
6. U. of Virginia Jane Batten widow of Frank Batten, founder of Landmark Communications, which owned the Weather Channel and Weather.com, along with many news channels and newspapers that are still owned by its successor company; he died in 2009 $10 million support for the new Batten Family Bicentennial Scholars Fund, to help graduate students in the master-of-public-policy program at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
6. Western Kentucky U. Jerry E. Baker Foundation (Jerry Baker) Jerry Baker, who died last year at age 86, was a former owner of the industrial-gases company Southern Welding Supply and later an executive at Airgas Mid America, which bought his company, in Bowling Green, Ky. $10 million (bequest) endowment of a scholarship fund for students who major or minor in music, dance, theater, art, or horticulture
11. U. of Kansas Lavon Brosseau Brosseau, who died in 2016 at the age of 88, was a retired high-school teacher in Concordia, Kan. With her late husband, Jack, she owned a large parcel of farmland that comprised the bulk of her estate. They also owned a small glass company. $7.4 million (bequest) endowment for scholarships for students majoring in the arts, humanities, and education
12. U. of Virginia School of Nursing Bedford Falls Foundation (William E. and Joanne Barkett Conway) William E. Conway Jr. is a co-founder and co-chief executive officer of the Carlyle Group, a private-equity firm in Washington. $5 million expansion of scholarship support for students across the school’s undergraduate and graduate nursing programs
12. Washington U. School of Medicine in St. Louis George and Carol Bauer George Bauer, an emeritus trustee and a 1953 and 1959 alumnus of Washington University, is a retired IBM executive and founder of the investment banking firm the GPB Group Ltd. $5 million endowment of a deanship for the School of Medicine
14. U. of California at Los Angeles School of Law Emmett Family Foundation (Dan and Rae Emmett) Dan Emmett is chairman of Douglas Emmett Inc., a real-estate company based in Santa Monica, Calif. $4.3 million support for students and the expansion of faculty research at the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment
15. Loras College The Rev. William Wilkie Father Wilkie was a priest and history professor at Loras who earned a bachelor’s degree in history and fine arts from the college in 1950. He died last year at age 87. $3.2 million (bequest) endowment for the William E. Wilkie Liturgical Program, William E. Wilkie Double Major Scholarship, Wilkie Classic Film Collection Fund, Professor William Green Senior History Award, Monsignor William D. Green Award, and the Roger Rechenmacher Scholarship Award for Creativity

Note: Gifts and biographical information were compiled from news articles, news releases, and The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s database of charitable gifts. The database compiles gifts of $1 million or more from 2005 to the present.The Chronicle of Higher Education maintains a separate list of major gifts of $50 million or more to colleges and universities, dating back to 1967. The value of gifts is based on information from institutions or donors at the time the gifts were promised or received. In cases of stock, property, art, and other noncash donations, actual value may have increased or decreased since the gifts were pledged or received. Grants are excluded. Gifts of the same amount are listed alphabetically by institution. Information on gifts can be sent to gifts@philanthropy.com. Questions or comments on the Chronicle List should be sent to Ruth Hammond.

A version of this article appeared in the June 22, 2018, issue.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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