Honorable Mentions211 other known gifts of more than $1 million in 1997

21. WESLEY J. HOWE–A $6.6-million pledge to the STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (N.J.) to form the nation’s first graduate school of business dedicated to the management of technology, according to SIT President Harold J. Raveche. The school will be named the Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management. Howe is a 1943 graduate of the institute. He earned a master’s degree in 1953 and was given an honorary doctorate in 1981. He is the former chairman and CEO of Becton Dickinson & Co.



22. CARL LINDNER–Total 1998 contributions: $6.5 million. A $5-million gift to the UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI toward an endowment for university’s honors-plus program in the College of Business Administration. The program is intended to help attract the region’s brightest high-school graduates to the university and will be named for Lindner, who has been a regular benefactor to a number of area schools and colleges, charities, churches, and hospitals. In October, his family donated $1.5 million to help CATHOLIC URBAN SCHOOLS in Cincinnati upgrade their computers.



23. JOY CULVERHOUSE–$6.1 million in 1997 to the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA. $3.5 million of the gift will be divided between the Center for Swallowing Disorders and the Allergy and Immunology Program. Originally Culverhouse intended the gift for breast-cancer research, but after months of talks failed to determine how best to use the money, she asked that the gift be redirected. In February 1997 she also gave an additional $2 million to the Center for Swallowing Disorders (which her family helped establish in 1988) and in April gave $600,000 to create an endowed professorship in allergy and immunology. Culverhouse, who has previously given $3 million to the university for breast-cancer research, is the widow of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Hugh Culverhouse.



23. BERNARD NEWCOMB–$6.1 million in stock of E-Trade Group Inc., the company he helped found in Palo Alto, Calif., to OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY in Corvallis. Newcomb, who has been legally blind most of his life, graduated from the university in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in business. Last fall, he retired with 2.4 million shares in E-Trade after the company, which provides services for trading securities over the Internet and by other electronic means, went public. “I hope it goes to good use,” Newcomb said of his first philanthropic gift. “There’s no way I could ever use that much money.”



25. CLINT and MAGGIE EASTWOOD–A 134-acre parcel of ranch property valued at $6 million to the BIG SUR LAND TRUST (Calif.) from the actor and his former wife, who remains his business partner. Sixty-three of 73 lots in a subdivision on Highway 1 of the actor-director’s ranch will be kept as open space. The ranch is among several pieces of county property that the Eastwoods have donated or decided not to develop. “I have enjoyed living on the Monterey Peninsula since 1963 and have always thought it was one of nature’s most beautiful jewels,” Maggie Eastwood said.



25. THE MAX FISHER FAMILY–$6 million to the DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, including $5 million from MAX FISHER plus $1 million from his daughter and son-in-law, JULIE and PETER CUMMINGS. Fisher is a donor and director of the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, of which Julie Cummings is a director. Fisher is also the vice chair and a trustee of the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan.



25. SAMUEL and JEAN FRANKEL–$6 million to the DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA from this real-estate developer and his wife. Samuel Frankel is president and a donor of the Samuel & Jean Frankel Foundation. His wife is vice president, secretary, and a donor.



25. EUGENE and RONNIE ISENBERG–$6 million to the UNIVERSITY of MASSACHUSETTS AT AMHERST from this Houston industrialist and his wife. This is the largest gift in the school’s history and will go toward new facilities and an endowed professorship in the management school, which will be renamed for the couple. For the past several years, the Isenbergs have funded 10 annual two-year scholarships for outstanding students in combined business and science disciplines. A 1950 U. Mass graduate, Isenberg is chairman and chief executive officer of Nabors Industries of Houston, one of the world’s leading oil-and-gas-drilling contractors. He is also a director of the American Stock Exchange.



25. PETER and ELEANORE KLEIST–Total 1997 contributions:$6 million. $5 million to OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY from this trustee and his wife, both 1940 OWU graduates, for building needs and as a challenge to other past and present trustees. In 1995, the Kleists, of Rocky River, Ohio, created a $350,000 program that provides 50 students each semester with a $1,000 stipend to gain professional skills while working on campus. Kleist paid for his housing as a student by working as a janitor in Elliott Hall, and went on to become a Cleveland-area builder and developer. Also: $1 million to CLAFLIN COLLEGE for the Living and Learning Center.



25. DAVID R. MARKIN–$6 million to BRADLEY UNIVERSITY (Ill.) from the president and chairman of the board of Checker Motors Co. This gift brings this 1953 business-administration graduate’s personal campaign commitment to $8 million. He is a member of the Bradley University board of trustees and centennial campaign steering committee. An avid player and supporter of tennis, Markin is the chairman of the U.S. Open Site Development Committee. He has served as chairman of the U.S. Davis Cup Committee and president of the United States Tennis Association.