An overview of notable donations compiled by the The Chronicle:
University of Houston College of Medicine
Tilman Fertitta and his family are committed $50 million to pay for new professors, scholarships, fellowships and research programs. The medical school was renamed Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine.
Of the total, Fertitta has earmarked $20 million to establish the Dean Fertitta Endowment Fund to support research and $10 million to establish a fund to endow research students and graduate scholarships for medical students. Of the remaining money, $10 million will be used to support five new endowed chairs, and $10 million will help upgrade medical school facilities and equipment, as well as cover additional program costs.
Fertitta founded and runs Fertitta Entertainment, a company that owns the Landry’s restaurant chain, Golden Nugget casinos and hotels, and the Houston Rockets, a professional basketball team. He has served on the University of Houston System Board of Trustees since 2009 and was elected President in 2014.
Obama Foundation
Brian Chesky has donated $100 million to the Obama Foundation for a scholarship program that will reduce student debt for students pursuing careers in public service, give them travel allowances and connect them to a network of leaders.
Students in their junior and senior years of college who plan to work in the public service after graduation will receive $25,000 per year towards tuition for their final two years of college under the Voyager Scholarship , the Obama-Chesky Fellowship for Public Service. The program also offers them a $10,000 stipend and free Airbnb housing to create a summer work-travel project related to the field they hope to enter, and a travel allowance of $2,000 per year for 10 years. so they can continue to travel and bond. with other leaders in the public service.
Chesky co-founded online accommodation company Airbnb in 2008 and is currently its CEO. Forbes estimates his net worth at over $9 billion.
Mathematical Sciences Research Institute
Two couples, James and Marilyn Simons and Henry and Marsha Laufer, have pledged $35 million each for a $70 million to support the institute’s endowment and its efforts to advance basic research and raise the public profile of mathematics.
James Simons is a mathematician who founded Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund in East Setauket, NY Marilyn Simons is an economist. Henry Laufer is a mathematician and former Vice President of Research at Renaissance Technologies. Marsha Laufer is a speech therapist.
Florida Atlantic University
John and Ann Wood engaged $28 million to support scholarships for students enrolled at Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine. The financial aid will cover the tuition fees of each student at FAU Medical School so that they do not have to graduate with a lot of student debt.
The Woods founded Pres-T-Con Ltd., a Trinidad-based construction and concrete company that built bridges, piers and cruise ship terminals in the Caribbean, in 1965. They sold the company in 2005. This is the third gift the Woods have given the College of Medicine. In 2021, they established the Robert A. Wood FAU Medical Scholars Fund to support 10 medical students through the four years of medical school.
Americans for Ben Gurion University
Michael Sonnenfeldt and Katja Goldman are engaged $20 million through their Goldman-Sonnenfeldt Foundation to establish the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where researchers will work to develop new technologies to combat climate change.
Sonnenfeldt is a New York real estate developer who founded TIGER 21, a membership organization for wealthy businessmen. He previously founded several real estate and investment-related companies, including Real Estate Resources Corporation, Emmes & Company and MUUS & Company. Sonnenfeldt sits on the university’s board of trustees.
Katja Goldman co-wrote the Empire Kosher Chicken Cookbook: 225 easy and elegant recipes for poultry and great side dishes. She co-founded Slice of Life Bakery in Cambridge, Mass., and previously served as executive chef for Barclay Bank.
Nuvance Health
George and Carol Bauer donated $20 million to construct the Bauer Family Pavilion at Norwalk Hospital, a new hospital tower, which is part of the hospital’s campus expansion project.
George Bauer is a retired IBM executive. The couple are long-time charity donors who have made several major donations to the hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut. They gave $15 million in 2019 for construction projects and $2.5 million in 2011 for an urgent care center. They also helped establish the Jeffrey Peter Bauer Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in memory of their late son of the same name and the Carol Bauer Nursing Scholarship.
Carol Bauer has been a volunteer at Norwalk Hospital for over 40 years and is one of the hospital’s volunteer chaplains. She specializes in maternal and child health and serving families who have lost a child. George Bauer sits on the hospital’s board of directors.
Vanderbilt School of Law
W. Weldon and Elaine Wilson are engaged $17.5 million to augment the Weldon Wilson Scholarship, which the couple established in 2011 in honor of Weldon Wilson’s 25th Law School Reunion. The scholarship is mainly awarded to graduates of public colleges and universities.
Weldon Wilson is Vice Chairman of Resolution Life Group Holdings, an international life insurance company with US headquarters in Stamford, Conn. He earned a JD degree from law school in 1986. The scholarship is for graduates of public universities because he and his siblings all received their undergraduate degrees from the University of Alabama at Huntsville, their hometown.
Cornell University College of Engineering
Robert Smith gave $15 million create an undergraduate scholarship fund and a graduate scholarship fund, both of which will bear Smith’s name. The scholarship will be awarded to engineering students who come to the university from urban high schools, and the graduate scholarship will go to students who attended historically black colleges and universities.
The scholarship fund will provide at least seven undergraduate students per year with up to $45,000 in grants, and the graduate scholarship fund will support approximately 12 master’s and five doctoral students. The money will also be used to create the Robert F. Smith Student Success Fund, which will support student participation in national conferences, professional development training, mentoring and other programs.
Smith graduated from Cornell in 1985. In 2000, he founded Vista Equity Partners, an Austin, Texas private equity firm that invests in fledgling technology companies. He has donated heavily to charity in recent years, particularly to efforts to reduce college loan debt for students at historically black colleges and universities. He appeared on the The Chronicle’s the annual Philanthropy 50 list of top donors four times since 2005.
Syracuse University
Daniel and Gayle D’Aniello donated $10 million to support the Syracuse Abroad Florence Program, a study abroad program in Florence, Italy. The program will be rebranded for donors. The money will be used to extend financial aid to students who otherwise could not afford to participate in the program, with a focus on low-income students, non-traditional age students and veteran students.
Additionally, it will support the program’s efforts to help student veterans navigate the complex process of using their GI Bill benefits for study abroad projects and help provide support services unique to the needs of veterans. The money will also be used to pay for upgrades and improvements to Villa Rossa, the historic villa in Florence that houses the program.
Daniel D’Aniello is co-founder of the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm in Washington. Before helping found the company in 1987, he served as vice president of finance and development at Marriott Corporation. He graduated from college in 1968. The D’Aniellos are longtime supporters of his alma mater. They gave $30 million last year to support the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families and $20 million in 2018 to build a home for the center.
To learn more about other major gifts, check out our regularly updated Donations of $1 Million or More database.
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