HOME /  The Slate60 :  Analysis of the year's biggest philanthropists.

The 1996 SLATE 60The 60 largest American charitable contributions of 1996. 

Entry 3:

By |Posted Sunday, Jan. 26, 1997, at 1:00 AM ET

 

17. THEPIGOTT FAMILY, THEBRAUN FAMILY, and THE LANE FAMILY--$20 million to STANFORD UNIVERSITY for the Restoration Fund to help rebuild and strengthen campus structures. As part of the fund-raising drive, major donors could choose to have their names associated with certain buildings and rooms on campus that have not been named in honor of a previous gift. Language Corner will be renamed "Pigott Hall"; Geology Corner will be renamed "Braun Corner"; and History Corner will be renamed "Lane History Corner." CHARLES PIGOTT is a Stanford trustee; HENRY LANE heads his family's trust; and L.W. "BILL" LANE JR. is co-chairman of Lane Publishing Co.

22. BETTY BROWN CASEY--$18 million to the WASHINGTON OPERA to enable it to purchase a former department-store building as a new home for the opera company. Casey is chair of the board of trustees of the opera, and is particularly interested in the young-artists program.

23. JOSEPH D.JAMAIL and LEE JAMAIL--gifts totaling $17 million from this attorney and his wife: They include $5 million to his alma mater, the UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN; $3 million to the MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS in Houston; $1 million to the BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE (Texas) for program support; $5 million to RICE UNIVERSITY (Texas) for program support; $1 million to the UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for program support; $1 million to the UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS Health Science Center in Houston for program support. The couple also made a $1 million gift to the LEE AND JOSEPH JAMAIL FOUNDATION.

24. PAUL ALLEN--$16.6 million in total gifts in 1996 from the co-founder of Microsoft: $2.7 million for the renovation of the UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON's Henry Art Gallery; $2 million to the FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER in Seattle; $2 million to Seattle's ACT THEATER; $1.2 million to STANFORD UNIVERSITY for construction of the Paul G. Allen Center for Integrated Systems; $1 million to the SEATTLE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL; $2 million to the SEATTLE CHILDREN'S THEATER; $2 million to the PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER; other gifts totaling 3.7 million to as-yet-unannounced organizations.

25. CHONG-MOON LEE--$15 million toward the renovation of the SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY, which will serve as the home of the city's new Asian Art Museum. The San Jose businessman announced the gift in an October 1995 press conference at Golden Gate Park. Lee's gift is the largest to any U.S. museum from an Asian-American and the largest to any San Francisco cultural institution. In honor of this gift, the museum will be renamed the Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture. Lee is chairman of Diamond Multimedial Systems and has previously donated approximately $1 million to the Korean section of the Asian Art Museum. He is a regular contributor to scholarship funds to Korea.

25. ERIC GLEACHER--a $15 million challenge grant from this New York investment banker to the UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, where he received an M.B.A. degree in 1967. The university said the gift is the largest made to its graduate school of business.

25. REUBEN FEINBERG--$15 million to NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL (Ill.), the largest single gift in the hospital's history. The commitment names the Feinberg Pavilion, a million-square-foot in-patient facility that will be the centerpiece of Northwestern Memorial's new medical center, which opens in 1999. This gift brings Feinberg's total contributions to Northwestern's medical center to $34 million. The gift will also name the Feinberg Neurodiagnostic Center to advance the treatment and understanding of diseases of the nervous system. Feinberg is president of Chicago's Jefferson State Bank.

25. SIDNEY KIMMEL and RENA ROWAN--$5 million for the endowment to the UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MUSEUM (Washington) from the chairman of the Jones Apparel Group and the executive vice president of Jones Apparel Group, respectively. A gallery at the museum is named in their honor. ALSO--$10 million from Kimmels' foundation to the THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY in Philadelphia--the largest gift in the university's history. The gift will name the university's cancer center and research institute. TOTAL: $15 million.

25. J. OURSO--$15 million to the LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION from this Louisiana businessman and alumnus of the university. Ourso founded Security Industrial Insurance and operated funeral homes and cemeteries. The school has been renamed the E.J. Ourso College of Business Administration, and will use the money to create endowed professorships, scholarships, and the Marjory B. Ourso Center for Excellence in honor of Ourso's wife.

25. PETER B. LEWIS--$15 million gift to CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY's Weatherhead School of Management (Ohio) from this business executive will provide the lead funding for a significant educational and physical development program intended to position the Weatherhead School of Management among the foremost business schools in the country.

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