25. JOHN and REBECCA MOORES–$6 million in cash to SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY for new athletic facilities. The couple has given $4 million to the university in the past. John Moores is a computer-software magnate and majority owner of the San Diego Padres.
25. JOHN and TASHIA MORGRIDGE–$6 million to ALVERNO COLLEGE (Wis.), the largest gift in the college’s history. John Morgridge is chairman of the board of Cisco Systems, a San Jose, Calif.-based maker of Internet equipment. The Morgridges were introduced to Alverno by his sister, Barbara, a teacher who had attended workshops there. She encouraged her brother to learn about the college and its ability-based curriculum and performance assessments. Both Morgridges attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
25. CHARLES and JEAN SCHULZ–Total 1997 contributions: $6 million. $5 million to SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY (Calif.) for the information center; $1 million to help build the NATIONAL D-DAY MEMORIAL (Bedford, Va.), which commemorates the June 6, 1944, Allied invasion of Normandy. Charles Schulz is a World War II combat veteran and the famous Peanuts cartoonist.
25. JANET WEIS and THE ROOKE FAMILY–$6 million to BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY (Pa.) to fund a music-instruction facility. Janet Weis is from Lewisburg, Pa. The Rooke family is from New Jersey and Rhode Island. The building will be named the Sigfried Weis Music Building in honor of Weis’ late husband, who was formerly a chairman of Bucknell’s board of trustees and president of Weis Markets Inc. Weis is a trustee and chairman emeritus of Bucknell’s board of trustees. Robert C. Rooke is former vice chairman of the Bucknell board, following his late father, a 1913 Bucknell graduate, in board service and gifts to the university. He was the founder of the Rooke Co., a private investment firm.
35. JOHN W. KLUGE–A collection of 20th-century Australian Aboriginal art, valued well in excess of $5 million, to the UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. Known as the Kluge-Ruhe Collection, the gift includes more than 900 objects previously owned by University of Kansas Professor Edward Ruhe and purchased by Kluge in 1993. Kluge is the general partner, chairman, and president of Metromedia Co., one of the largest privately held companies in the United States.
36. JOHN ABELE–At least $5 million this year to EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS, including MiddleMAST, which he founded to make grants to science and math teachers in Boston’s public schools. Abele is the founder of Boston Scientific.
36. JACK BASKIN–$5 million to the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SANTA CRUZ from this retired developer and engineer to support a new school of engineering. This is by far the largest private donation in the 32-year history of the campus. Baskin has previously donated $1.5 million to the university. When he announced the gift, he joked that he had made his money “desecrating Los Angeles.”
36. ARTHUR BLANK–$5 million to the ATLANTA JEWISH FEDERATION from the president and CEO of the Home Depot Inc.
36. PATRICIA CORBETT–$5 million to the CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA to establish the Corbett Educational Endowment. Income from the endowment will be used to form a partnership between the CSO and the Association for the Advancement of Arts Education, formed in 1995 with another Corbett grant to promote arts education. Corbett said the gift was motivated by her concern over the declining audience for classical music. The CSO, which has raised nearly $21 million over the past 18 months toward the $27.5-million goal of its Second Century Fund, also announced five other gifts of $1 million or more. Corbett is donor and chairman of the Ohio-based Corbett Foundation and a trustee of the George T. Baker Foundation (Fla.).
36. GEORGE and HARRIET CORNELL–$5 million to PALM BEACH ZOO (Fla.) at Dreher Park to create a new 6-acre Tropics of the Americas, a rain forest with free-roaming wildlife.
Honorable Mentions211 other known gifts of more than $1 million in 1997
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