41. RUSSELL BERRIE–At least $13.5 million to COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (New York) to establish a diabetes-research and treatment center. Berrie is chairman of Russ Berrie & Co. of Oakland, N.J., which manufactures toys and other gift items. Columbia University has dedicated the Russell Berrie Medical Science Pavilion in his honor. The facility will house expanded research programs in cancer and pediatrics; a genome center; and the university’s diabetes-research and treatment center, which will be named after Berrie’s late mother, Naomi, who, like Russell, suffered from the disease. In an interview, Berrie said that he gives away at least $2 million annually to programs ranging from the performing arts and computers for children to a retirement home for nuns.
42. STEPHEN and TOMISUE HILBERT–Total 1997 contributions: $13 million. $10 million to the INDIANA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA from the chairman of Conseco and his wife to fund an endowment for maintenance projects at what will be renamed the Hilbert Circle Theater. The gift is the largest in the symphony’s 67-year history. The Hilberts will pay the money in installments over the next four years. Also: $3 million to the INDIANAPOLIS ZOO toward planned botanical gardens. In honor of the donation, a 5,000-square-foot glass conservatory on the grounds of the zoo will be named the Hilbert Conservatory. Stephen Hilbert is a member of the Indianapolis Zoological Society’s board of trustees.
43. WILLIAM C. WARREN–$12 million to COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY law and business schools from this former dean and professor. A new building on the campus will be named the William and June Warren Hall in honor of Warren and his wife. “I was the dean there [at the law school] for 18 years; so if I have a little money, I think this a good thing to do,” he told the New York Times. As for his wife of 52 years, he noted, “She spent a lot of time with alumni and students when I was dean, and I want her to be recognized for that.” The building is the second on the campus to be named for Warren.
44. JOHN and SUSAN SYKES–Total 1997 contributions: $11.3 million. This includes $10 million to the UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA (Fla.). The largest gift in the school’s history, it will pay for a $7.5-million renovation of McKay Auditorium, which will become the John H. Sykes College of Business Building. Another $1.5 million will help fund construction of a chapel and an intercultural center. The remaining $1 million will endow a center for ethics. $1 million to the UNITED WAY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY (Fla.). $ 275,000 for new gym equipment to the TAMPA POLICE STATION. John Sykes is chairman and CEO of Sykes Enterprises, which provides technical support to people who have bought products from companies such as IBM, Apple, and NationsBank.
45. WILLIAM D. WALSH–$10.5 million to FORDHAM UNIVERSITY (N.Y.) from this 1951 alumnus and venture capitalist. Of this amount, $10 million will support the new William D. Walsh Family Library. The remaining $500,000 will go to an athletic training center. Walsh was cut from the Fordham football team in 1947 by the famed coach Vince Lombardi. He is now a general partner in the acquisitions firm Sequoia Associates in Menlo Park, Calif. “Fordham is a school that can be characterized by educating a great number of America’s first generation children,” Walsh said. “Like so many others, I was there when my family had no excess cash, and I worked as a theater barker and a hospital oxygen technician.”
46. MARILYNN ALSDORF–One of the world’s largest private collections of Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian art (which contains over 400 works of art and is valued at more than $10 million) to the ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO. Marilyn Alsdorf and her husband began collecting the pieces in the late 1960s, when James, who was chairman of the art institute’s board from 1975 to 1978, and his wife traveled the world gathering jewelry and art. This acquisition puts the art institute “among the top three or four museums in the country that have Indian art collections,” said Stephen Little, the institute’s curator of Asian art. James Alsdorf headed Alsdorf International Ltd., an export company. During the Depression, he purchased the Cory Co., a manufacturer of glass coffeepots, which he turned into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. He died in 1990.
46. BILL DANIELS–$10 million to the CITY OF DENVER. The gift includes a $7-million mansion named “Cableland” and a $3-million maintenance endowment from the 77-year-old chairman of Daniels Communications. Daniels said the gift, which includes furnishings, will be transferred upon his death. “I don’t know when that will be. Don’t hold your breath,” he chuckled. The gift must receive the endorsement of the Denver City Council. If it is approved, Denver will be one of four cities with mayoral mansions (the others are New York, Detroit, and Los Angeles).
46. BRUCE and RUTH DAYTON–$10 million to the MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS from the former chairman of Dayton Hudson and his wife. Of this, $7.5 million will go toward general operating support and $2.5 million toward the operation and maintenance of new galleries of Asian art currently under construction. This gift brings the Daytons’ total giving to the institute to more than $25 million in the last eight years.
46. KARL ELLER–$10 million to the UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, his alma mater, to endow the Karl Eller Center for the Study of Private Market Economy in the College of Business Administration. Eller established the center in 1983 with a gift of $300,000 a year for five years. He is the former chairman of Circle K, a convenience-store chain, and the former owner of Eller Media Corp., which he sold last year.
46. NEIL and LOIS GAGNONandCHARLES E. and CORNELIA HUGEL–A $10-million challenge gift to LAFAYETTE COLLEGE (Pa.) to construct a science facility that will house chemistry and physics programs. Charles Hugel, a 1951 graduate and emeritus trustee, is chairman of the Lafayette capital campaign and the retired chairman of Asea Brown Boveri. Neil Gagnon is a Lafayette trustee and alumnae parent and a partner in the investment firm of Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co. in New York City.
