Paying it forward

Health care, arts giving thrives in Va.

Published February 27, 2023 by Katherine Schulte

Dr. Todd Stravitz donated $104 million to Virginia Commonwealth University last year for a liver disease institute. Photo by Caroline Martin

In the last year, Virginia philanthropists continued making generous donations toward health care research, while others maintained their longstanding support of art museums.

Leading the pack were two nine-figure donations for medical research. In February 2022, Dr. Todd Stravitz, who built his expertise researching and treating liver disease, donated $104 million to Virginia Commonwealth University to help establish the previously announced Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health and to establish two endowed chairs at VCU’s School of Medicine. Stravitz is an heir to the Boar’s Head Provisions Co. Inc. fortune.

In January, Charlottesville investor Paul Manning and his wife, Diane, donated $100 million to the University of Virginia to fund the launch of the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology. The university and the commonwealth are contributing $150 million and $50 million respectively to the construction of the facility, which will focus on research to produce new medical treatments that are expected to treat multiple diseases. Although the Charlottesville center is set to open in 2027, research work will start soon in existing U.Va. facilities.

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, continued her support of underfunded institutions. In October 2022, she pledged $15 million to the Warrenton-based PATH Foundation, which provides grants to health-focused organizations in Fauquier, Rappahannock and Culpeper counties.

In other health-related donations, Roanoke-based health system Carilion Clinic received three $1 million gifts, including donations for cancer treatment services from Roanoke residents George Logan and Helen Harmon Logan, and from Maury Strauss, in honor of his late wife, Sheila. Carilion also received a $1 million gift in April 2022 from an anonymous couple to support its career advancement program.

The Carlyle Group co-founder, interim CEO and non-executive co-chairman William E. “Bill” Conway Jr. and his wife, Joanne, donated to health care workers’ education, giving $14 million in September 2022 to U.Va.’s School of Nursing and $13 million to VCU’s School of Nursing later that month.

In April 2022, U.Va.’s Virginia Athletics Foundation received a $40 million anonymous bequest from a former student-athlete, the largest in its history, as part of its $5 billion capital campaign.

During James Madison University’s fundraising campaign that raised more than $251 million, the university received its largest-ever cash gift, $5 million, from 1982 alumnus Paul Holland and his wife, Linda Yates. JMU announced the gift in October 2022.

In June 2022, VCU received a $5 million donation to create three endowed funds for its Department of Theatre in the School of Arts from Charlottesville resident James H.T. McConnell Jr. Virginia Tech also received a $5 million donation last year, when Reston-based Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. founder and CEO Gary Bowman committed $5 million in October 2022 to its College of Engineering to expand sustainable land development learning initiatives.

In the art world last year, familiar names continued their support of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Chrysler Museum of Art. In March 2022, longtime philanthropists Jim and Frances McGlothlin of Bristol, Virginia, donated nearly $60 million to the VMFA, a gift that includes 15 works by Norman Rockwell, John Singer Sargent, Andrew Wyeth and other American artists. The donation — the couple’s third major gift since 2010 — also supports the museum’s expansion. Construction of a new 170,000-square-foot wing is set to start in late 2024, according to the museum.

Hampton Roads native Joan Brock, whose late husband, Macon Brock, co-founded Dollar Tree Inc., donated $34 million to the Chrysler Museum, including 40 works of art and two endowed curator posts.

The gift was announced in May 2022, and Brock said in an interview last year with Virginia Business that she considers the work of curators especially important. “They’re the ones that go out into the field, looking for art, looking for shows, espousing the benefits of the Chrysler Museum.”