Another US University Receives Record-Breaking Philanthropic Gift

Tom Burroughes

30 October 2017

The University of Illinois has reported been paid its largest-ever donation, worth $150 million, from the head of a Chicago private equity firm, a development following hard on the heels of a $100 million philanthropic transfer to a US university as reported last week by this news service.

Madison Industries founder and chief executive Larry Gies and his wife, Beth Gies, who graduated from U of I, made the donation, the school said in a statement. The money will be used for scholarships, student programs and faculty recruitment and retention, Jeffrey Brown, who is dean of what now is being called the Gies College of Business, said.

Gies, who grew up in Illinois farm town of Mendota, attended the university's college of business for an undergraduate degree in accounting.

The gift means the university’s business school at the Urbana-Champaign campus will now be called the Gies College of Business. The gift is the largest in Urbana-Champaign history.

The University of Notre Dame last week announced what it says is a first-of-its-kind, $100 million unrestricted commitment from Kenn Ricci, an aviation industry luminary who is a Notre Dame alumnus and trustee, and his wife, Pamela. The commitment is the single largest unrestricted guaranteed gift ever committed to the university. The structure used for the transfer is a Philanthropic Succession Partnership, developed by Ricci, who is the founder of Directional Aviation Capital, a holding company for aviation companies he has founded or acquired. Ricci's involvement in the aviation industry stretches back more than three decades.