The Slate60

The 1997 Slate 60The 60 largest American charitable contributions of 1997.

46. HARRY H. STINE–$10-million challenge gift to McPHERSON COLLEGE (Kan.) for program support from the CEO of Stine Seed Co.



46. RONALD TUTOR–$10 million to the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA to construct a new building for the school of engineering. Tutor, the president of Tutor-Saliba Corp. in Sylmar, Calif., is a 1963 alumnus of the school of business.



46. DAVID M. UNDERWOOD–$10 million to PHILLIPS ACADEMY (Mass.) to help restore a campus chapel and meet academic needs. The gift is the largest single amount ever given to the school, founded in 1778. Underwood is a Houston businessman and president of the school’s board of trustees. “I came to Andover in 1950 for summer school and then went on to have four very expanding years of education here,” he said. “It set the tone for the rest of my life.”



46. P. ROY and DIANA VAGELOS–$10 million to the UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA for a new interdisciplinary program in molecular life sciences for students considering careers in the biological sciences. Roy Vagelos is chairman of the university’s board of trustees and is the former chairman of Merck & Co., the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical and health-care corporation. The couple also made a $10-million gift to the university in 1995 for the construction of laboratories.



46. MEL and ENID ZUCKERMAN–$10 million to the UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA from the founders of Canyon Ranch spas. 46. SAMZELL–$10 million to the WHARTON SCHOOL to endow the Wharton Real Estate Center. The center will be called the Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center at Wharton. Robert Lurie was Zell’s business partner for 30 years (until his death in 1990). Zell, now 56, and Lurie started their business careers managing apartment buildings while studying at the University of Michigan. They went on to build up a broad real-estate portfolio and branched into investing in distressed companies doing business in everything from rail cars to electronics to Mississippi riverboats. Zell is now chairman of Equity Group Investments Inc., among other companies. In 1994 Lurie’s widow, Ann, gave the University of Michigan $12 million in memory of her husband.