Historic Gifts To Siena, Belmont, Oklahoma State And University Of Michigan Total $130 Million

Four universities have received a total of $130 million in private gifts this week, highlighting a very busy year-end period of higher education philanthropy.

University of Michigan

On December 15, the University of Michigan announced a $30 million commitment from Ron Weiser to fund a program in prostate cancer, housed in what will be called the Ronald Weiser Center for Prostate Cancer. The new center will be part of the university’s Rogel Cancer Center and combine resources from three clinical departments – urology, radiation oncology and radiology.

According to the university’s news release, the center will include clinics, training programs, new technology and research programs, as it seeks to advance the use of precision medicine to diagnose and treat patients.The gift also will be used to recruit and retain trainees and faculty from groups who are underrepresented in the field of prostate cancer.

“The goal is to make this center the easiest and best place to be treated for prostate cancer in the country, if not the world,” said Ganesh Palapattu, the George F. and Sandy G. Valassis Professor of Urology at Michigan Medicine.

Weiser, who is on the university’s Board of Regents, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2019, and that experience led him to make his donation. Saying that he was grateful for the excellent care he received at the university, Weiser, who is a Michigan alum, added “But going through this has made me realize more could be done to support so many other men and their families who face this terrible disease, too.”

Already one the university’s largest donors, having made more than $150 million in donations, Weiser founded McKinley Associates Inc., a national real estate investment company, in 1968. He served as its chairman and chief executive officer until 2001. From 2001-05, he served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Slovak Republic, an appointment made by President George W. Bush.

Oklahoma State University

Also on Wednesday, Oklahoma State University announced that it had received a combined $50 million from the Harold Hamm Foundation and Continental Resources. The money will be used to establish the Hamm Institute for American Energy at Oklahoma State University. 

The initial funding for the project will involve $25 million from the Harold Hamm Foundation and $25 million from Continental Resources. According to the university, “the Hamm Institute will become the center of all things American energy,” hosting symposiums, authors, speakers, energy summits and other events involving global energy leadership.

OSU President Kayse Shrum pledged to use the gift to “bring together the brightest minds and future energy sector leaders from around the world… Together, we will change the trajectory of energy security in the United States.”

Harold Hamm, a native of Oklahoma, founded and serves as chairman of Continental Resources, a leading U.S. oil and gas producer. Describing the Institute as a”game changer,” Hamm said “it’s time, once again, for Oklahoma to become a global energy leader.”

Siena College

Siena College, a private liberal art college in Loudonville, New York, received the single largest gift in its history this week – a $35 million donation from Das Nobel, a Siena alum, and his wife, Nipa. It will be used to build Nobel Hall, expand Siena’s science education space and renovate Siena’s Roger Bacon Hall.

“The foundation from Siena College enabled us to give back to my alma mater in a way that will impact the next generation of leaders,” Nobel said as part of the announcement. “I am proud to be a Siena alumnus and hope this contribution will inspire future students to dream big.”

Das Nobel immigrated to the United States as a teenager from Bangladesh. With his wife, he founded MTX Group, a global technology consulting company.

Belmont University

Belmont University, a private university in Nashville, Tennessee, received a $15 million gift from Barbara Massey Rogers and the Jack C. Massey Foundation. The donation matches the largest single gift in Belmont’s history.

The gift will be used to build the Jack C. Masssey Center, a six-story building that will serve as the home of the university’s Admissions Welcome Center, the Belmont Data Collaborative and the Cone Center for Entrepreneurship, and host other programs and spaces for faculty and students. 

Barbara Massey Rogers, daughter of Jack C. Massey, said, “I am humbled and honored that the new building on the Belmont campus will carry the name, Jack C. Massey. The building will be a part of the Massey legacy which our family will treasure for generations to come.”

The late Jack C. Massey and his family are among Belmont University’s biggest benefactors, and numerous buildings and programs on campus already bear his name, including the Jack C. Massey College of Business, the Massey Center for Financial Information, and the Massey Performing Arts Center. As a result of the new gift, the previously named Jack C. Massey Business Center will be renamed the Barbara Massey Rogers Center.

Jack C. Massey earned a pharmacy degree from the University of Florida. He began his career as a retail druggist in Nashville and opened several drug stores before founding Massey Surgical Supply in 1930. After selling that business in 1961 and briefly retiring, he served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Hospital Corporation of America (now known as HCA Healthcare), Massey also bought Kentucky Fried Chicken from its founder, Harland Sanders, for $2 million in 1964. After he and John Y. Brown Jr. rapidly expanded the company to 3,500 franchises, he eventually sold the company to Heublein for $239 million.