A roundup of notable gifts compiled by the Chronicle:
Hospital for Special Surgery
Scott and Kathleen Kapnick gave $7.5 million through their Kapnick Foundation to back the construction of a new orthopedic surgical center in Naples, Fla. The surgical center will be named for the Kapnicks.
Scott Kapnick founded and leads HPS Investment Partners, a New York investment firm specializing in alternative credit management. He worked for Goldman Sachs for two decades eventually becoming co-CEO of Goldman Sachs International and then joined the hedge fund Highbridge Capital.
He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the hospital. Kathleen Kapnick co-founded Shou Sugi Ban House, a luxury wellness spa in Watermill, N.Y.
University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering
Mark Kolokotrones gave $5 million to establish and endow a chair in computer science and health within the School of Advanced Computing. The chair will lead the Faculty Affinity Group in Computing and Health, where professors will work on finding ways to use advanced computing to address healthcare challenges.
Kolokotrones co-founded Knight and Bishop, L.P., a venture capital firm, in 2013, and he founded Castle Knoll Investment, a financial services firm in 2007. Both are located in La Canada Flintridge, Calif. He graduated from Harvard and then attended USC, where he studied computer science, engineering, physics, and math.
Susan Holden McCurry pledged $4.4 million through her Roland and Ruby Holden Family Foundation to expand the Global Learning Program, which offers Grinnell students a chance to study global issues through faculty-led study-abroad programs. She established the program with a $4 million donation in 2015.
McCurry is a retired businesswoman. She joined Holden’s Foundation Seeds and Hawaiian Research, in 1978. The seed research and development companies were founded by her late parents, Roland and Ruby Holden. McCurry served as CFO of the companies. Holden’s Foundation Seeds and Hawaiian Research were sold to Monsanto in 1997 and 2001, respectively. McCurry graduated from Grinnell in 1971.
Northern Michigan University
John Berry Jr. and his wife, Shirley, gave $3.5 million through their Berry Family Foundation to support several programs. Of the total, they gave $2 million to endow and name the position of dean of the College of Business; $1 million to support the construction of the Northern Enterprise Center, the future home of the College of Business; and $500,000 for upgrades to athletics facilities.
Berry Jr. founded and is chairman of Berry Investments, an investment firm in Dayton, Ohio. He earned an accounting degree from the university in 1971. Shirley Berry is a former business education teacher.
Tulane University Newcomb Institute
Donna Esteves and her husband, Richard, gave $3 million to support the Donna and Richard Esteves Fund for Women’s Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Health, and to encourage more women philanthropists to give to women’s rights. The couple established the fund with a $1 million gift in 2016.
Donna Esteves co-founded Free Lighting Corporation, which used all-women crews to install energy-efficient lighting systems in homes. The company became the largest energy conservation contractor of its kind before its sale in 2001. She started her business career as a saleswoman for the cosmetics company, Mary Kay.
Before she completed her master’s degree in teaching at Tulane in 1974, Esteves taught English in the Jefferson Parish public schools in Lafitte and Marrero, La., where many of her female students would not have the opportunity to pursue a college education either because of unplanned pregnancies, harmful relationships, or family expectations that they should not have professional careers outside the home.
To learn about other big donations, see our database of gifts of $1 million or more, which is updated regularly.
