27. ROBERT E. and MARGIE PETERSEN— $25 million to the PETERSEN AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM in Los Angeles. The gift will pay off the money-losing museum’s remaining debt under a plan that would turn operations over to a nonprofit operation. The museum has suffered financially because of low attendance. Robert Petersen is the 72-year-old retired chairman of EMAP Corp. and led the drive to start the 5-year-old museum. He has previously contributed $5 million to it, pledged an additional $1 million, and promised $10 million more upon his death. Robert Petersen started Hot Rod magazine 50 years ago, taking his own photographs at the track and producing the magazine in his garage, selling each issue for 25 cents.
27. JANE BRADLEY PETTIT—$25 million toward the construction of a new public technical high school in Milwaukee. The building will be named the Lynde and Harry Bradley Technical and Trade School after Pettit’s father and uncle. Project sources said that Pettit wanted to give back to the industrial economy and to the south side neighborhood where her family made its fortunes. The Bradleys, using money borrowed from a doctor named Allen, founded the Allen-Bradley Co. in 1903.
27. WILLIAM A. and JOAN PORTER— $25 million to the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY for the Sloan School of Business to construct a facility that will consolidate research, teaching, and staff and student functions. The building will be named the William A. Porter Management Center. The Porters made their gift to foster a closer marriage between Sloan’s strength in management and the technology prowess found throughout MIT. A new Sloan facility will enable the School to expand its entrepreneurship efforts. Porter, founder of the Internet brokerage E*Trade, graduated from Sloan in 1967.
27. ALVIN J. and RUTH SITEMAN—a $25 million pledge to WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY and BARNES-JEWISH HOSPITAL in St. Louis to support research, treatment, and educational research in their combined cancer programs at the university’s medical school and at the hospital. The Sitemans had given Barnes-Jewish Hospital $10 million in 1997 for the center. In recognition of the Sitemans’ gift, the university and hospital will name all their combined cancer programs—including more than 300 cancer-related research and training grants and the cancer care and research facilities under construction—the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center. Alvin Siteman, president of the Siteman Organization, was chairman of Mark Twain Bancshares Inc. when it merged with Mercantile Bancorporation in 1997. He is chairman and president of Site Oil Co. of Missouri and Flash Oil Corp. He is on the board of Barnes-Jewish and chairs the hospital’s foundation. Ruth Siteman is a graduate of Washington University’s University College.
27. FLORA L. THORNTON—a $25 million cash gift to the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA for its music school. The school said it was the largest donation ever made to a music school in the United States. The music school will be renamed for Thornton, 85, the widow of Charles “Tex” Thornton, the founder of Litton Industries. Thornton decided that if her foundation could not afford to give the entire gift, she would draw it from her personal fortune. “I thought the size of the gift was not out of line and I was in a position to do it,” Thornton said. “My children are taken care of and I will not go hungry.” Thornton has made many other gifts to the arts and in medicine, including $1 million to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
35. RAYMOND NEAG—$23 million to the UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT, its largest gift ever, from a member of the class of 1956. Neag is a Torrington, Conn., native who now lives in Reading, Pa. He co-founded Arrow International Inc., medical equipment manufacturer, and is now vice chairman of the company. Connecticut’s Gov. John G. Rowland said the state will add to Neag’s gift with a $4.3 million contribution. Neag’s gift is the largest to any public university in New England: $21 million of it is for the School of Education, the largest single gift ever made to an education department, and $2 million is for the school’s health center. The gift to the School of Education will be used to support two of its nationally recognized centers of excellence, as well as to build new centers, to support outreach programs for faculty in Connecticut schools, and to recruit top graduate students. Funds for the health center will support a chair in the School of Medicine.
36. WILLIAM DAVIDSON— $20 million to the WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE in Rehovot, Israel—the largest private donation ever made to the facility. The gift was made in conjunction with Davidson’s company, Guardian Industries, the Auburn Hill, Mich.-based glass company. The gift will be used to establish the Davidson Institute of Science Education. The facility is expected to serve as an incubator for programs that will improve science teaching and ignite a passion for science among all students, particularly those from disadvantaged neighborhoods, said Haim Harari, president of the Weizmann Institute. Davidson is also managing partner of the Detroit Pistons and an owner of The Palace of Auburn Hills, a basketball arena.
36. BERNARD GORDON—$20 million to TUFTS UNIVERSITY (Mass.) to enhance its engineering program from the chairman of Analogic Corp. Gordon pioneered inventions such as the CAT scan and Doppler radar. He designated his gift to shape a curriculum at Tufts that will ground engineers in the liberal arts and improve their communication skills.
36. CARL ICAHN—$20 million to PRINCETON UNIVERSITY for a new laboratory building to study genes and their functions. The genomics building will be named for Icahn, a 1957 Princeton alumnus and philosophy major. He said he was drawn to genomics because it offers “new insight into the nature of life itself.” In June, Peter B. Lewis gave Princeton $35 million for an Institute for Integrative Genomics, which will be housed in the new laboratory. Icahn is a financier.
36. JOSEPH J. JACOBS—$20 million to POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY (N.Y.) from this engineer and lifetime trustee who said he was inspired by the nearly $175 million estate gift the university received last year from his friend and mentor Donald Othmer, a longtime Poly professor, and his wife, Margaret. The gift is intended to allow the university to proceed with several building projects, including a new design and innovation center and the first dormitory on the Brooklyn campus. Jacobs, who holds four Poly degrees, is the founder of the Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., an international engineering and construction firm. He and his wife, Violet, have given more than $30 million to Poly since the late 1970s.
Photographs of: Robert E. and Margie Petersen courtesy of JMPR Public Relations; William A. and Joan Porter courtesy of International Securities Exchange; Flora L. Thornton courtesy of USC News Service; William Davidson courtesy of Guardian Industries Corp.
