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Inova raises $83M to match Schars’ $75M gift

Inova Health System has raised $83 million over the past year, surpassing the “Schar Challenge” issued by donors Dwight and Martha Schar when they made a $75 million matching gift to Inova in May 2023.

The Schars’ most recent gift to support Inova’s heart and vascular services and the gifts to match it made by more than 10,000 donors brings the Falls Church-based health system’s total raised over the past year to $158 million, according to a Thursday news release.

Dwight Schar founded Reston-based Fortune 500 company NVR, one of the nation’s largest mortgage bankers and homebuilders, which operates under the Ryan Homes, NVHomes and Heartland Homes brands. Since 1993, the Schars have donated more than $126 million to Inova, including $50 million in 2015 to establish the Inova Schar Cancer Institute, the hospital system’s Fairfax County hub for cancer treatment and clinical trials, which opened in 2019.

“We are deeply grateful to Dwight and Martha Schar for their extraordinary generosity and powerful call to action, and also to our Northern Virginia community who, together, donated more than $80 million to Inova in just one year,” Inova President and CEO Dr. J. Stephen Jones said in a statement. “This tremendous achievement is a reflection of a community that cares deeply about having world-class health care locally. It’s a profound vote of trust and a testament to the spirit of giving that defines our Inova community.”

“Early on in this challenge, Martha and I shared our belief in the power of a single act of generosity to spark a wave of transformation — and our community has stepped up in a big way to show this is possible,” Dwight Schar said in a statement. “This is an important step, and I’ll say again: nothing is more important than having world-class health care available to every person in our community.”

Schar, 82, retired as NVR’s chair in 2022, after having previously served also as CEO. Since its founding in 1980, NVR has grown to employ more than 6,000 people, and for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2023, it reported $9.79 billion in revenue.

“Health care is No. 1 in my books; there’s nothing more important you can offer the community,” Schar told Virginia Business earlier this year. “The metropolitan Washington area has been very good to me and my business, so this is where I feel I can do the greatest good for the greatest number of people.”

Inova provides more than 4 million patient visits a year and employs more than 24,000 people across five hospitals and dozens of other facilities, including 37 primary care clinics and Northern Virginia’s only state-designated and nationally verified Level 1 trauma center.

Donations by independent foundations and groups

GENEROUS VIRGINIANS 2024

George Mason receives $5M donation from Peterson Cos. family

The Peterson Family Foundation, the family behind the Peterson Cos. real estate development firm, donated $5 million to the George Mason University’s Center for the Arts improvement project, the university announced Tuesday.

The gift to the university’s College of Visual and Performing Arts will support modernization of the Concert Hall auditorium, part of George Mason’s Center for the Arts on its Fairfax campus. George Mason will also rename the auditorium. Built in 1990, the 1,935-seat venue has hosted U.S. president and Grammy-, Tony-, Emmy- and Academy Award-winning artists, as well as George Mason students.

Peterson Cos.’ late founder, Milton V. Peterson, and his wife, Carolyn, founded their family foundation in 1997. In April, Inova announced a $20 million donation from the foundation. The family foundation has previously donated to George Mason University, giving $10 million in 2015 for scholarships in the arts and to complete construction of the Peterson Family Health Sciences Hall.

“The Peterson family has stood behind so much of our success in building an exceptional community of artists — students, faculty and distinguished visiting professionals — at George Mason,” George Mason President Gregory Washington said in a statement. “This latest expression of visionary generosity makes possible a much-needed reimagination of our beloved Concert Hall, magnifying George Mason University’s standing as the artistic and cultural hub of Northern Virginia.”

The privately held, Fairfax-based Peterson Cos. was founded in 1965 by Milton Peterson, who died in 2021. It’s now led by his son, Jon Peterson, who became CEO in 2018 and is chairman of the executive committee. The company’s developments include National Harbor in Maryland, home to the MGM National Harbor casino resort, The Capital Wheel and the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center; Fairfax Corner; Fair Lakes; Burke Centre; Tysons McLean Office Park; and numerous other retail, office and residential developments.

Jon, who is also vice rector of George Mason’s board of visitors, and Carolyn Peterson announced the gift at an event they held in Carolyn’s home to support the visual and performing arts college’s upcoming annual benefit.

“Our family’s commitment to this project is a testament to our steadfast support of Mason Arts programs from the earliest days of the Center for the Arts right up to the present,” Carolyn Peterson said in a statement. “This gift is significant because we know it will provide our excellent students, world-class visiting artists and the community of art lovers with a stellar Center for the Arts auditorium in which to share and experience the arts. We are honored to help move this initiative forward.”

The foundation’s donation contributes to Mason Now: Power the Possible, the university’s first $1 billion comprehensive fundraising campaign. George Mason also has a forthcoming capital initiative for the Center for the Arts, although it has not yet shared information about the project costs and timeline. In April 2022, the school announced a $10 million gift from Barry Dewberry and Arlene Evans to rename the Center for the Arts once its future renovation is complete.

George Mason University is Virginia’s largest public research university. As of the fall 2023 semester, the school had 40,184 students enrolled, of which 28,277 were undergraduates.

Shenandoah University receives $20M gift from alumnus

Shenandoah University alumnus and his wife have pledged $20 million to the university, the largest individual donation in the history of the Winchester school.
Wilbur and Clare Dove’s gift, announced last month, will go toward the building of a performing and visual arts center on campus, according to the university.

Wilbur Dove earned his junior college degree in 1959 from what was then known as Shenandoah College and Conservatory. That institution, which was previously located in Dayton, moved to Winchester in 1960 and was renamed Shenandoah University in 1991. Dove was a member of the final class to attend Shenandoah at its former Dayton location.

“This performing and visual arts building will transform the university and will allow Shenandoah and its conservatory to continue to provide the very best educational experience and opportunities to its students,” Wilbur Dove said in a statement.

The Doves have been longtime supporters of Shenandoah University, most recently giving toward the construction of Dove’s Nest and Dove’s Nest II, two of five apartment-style residence halls that make up The Village Apartments on the university’s campus. The couple also created an endowed scholarship in the name of Wilbur’s former roommate and lifelong friend, the Rev. Bruce Gearhart.

 

Hampden-Sydney College receives $20M pledge

Richmond-based Endeavour Legacy Foundation has pledged $20 million to Hampden-Sydney College, the second largest gift in the college’s history.

The college will use the gift, announced Tuesday, toward renovating its former science center, Gilmer Hall, into an academic facility housing the economics and business, and government and foreign affairs departments. The two departments are currently housed in Morton Hall.

According to a Hampden-Sydney spokesperson, the Endeavour Legacy Foundation gift will cover the construction costs associated with the renovation of Gilmer Hall, work that will start this fall with an anticipated completion of spring 2026. Morton Hall and Johns Auditorium are being considered for future renovation.

“On behalf of a very grateful Hampden-Sydney College community, I thank Endeavour Legacy Foundation for its generous support for our shared vision to make Hampden-Sydney one of the finest and most distinctive colleges in the nation,” Hampden-Sydney College President Larry Stimpert said in a statement.

The Endeavour Legacy Foundation is co-led by Katharine “Kathy” Pauley Hickok, the daughter of the late Stanley F. and Dorothy Pauley. In September 2019, Hampden-Sydney College received a $30 million gift from Stan Pauley. The gift supported the construction of a new science facility, the Pauley Science Center, which opened in August 2022.

Stan Pauley was the chairman and CEO of polyurethane materials producer Carpenter Co. and served on the Hampden-Sydney board of trustees. He died in 2020 at the age of 93. His wife and fellow philanthropist, Dorothy Pauley, died in 2021 at the age of 91.

The family foundation also supported Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health, including a $5 million donation in 2005 that named the VCU Health Pauley Heart Center. As of November 2020, the Pauley family had committed more than $28 million to VCU. Dorothy Pauley graduated from the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences in 1974.

Kathy Pauley Hickok serves as president/secretary of the Endeavour Legacy Foundation, and her husband, Eugene “Gene” Hickok, serves as the vice president/director of the foundation, according to its 2022 tax return filing. Gene Hickok served as U.S. deputy secretary of education from 2003 to 2005 under then-President George W. Bush. He graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 1972 and was director of the college’s financial aid.

A private men’s college in Prince Edward County, Hampden-Sydney College first held classes in 1775. As of fall 2023, the college had 876 students enrolled, according to State Council of Higher Education for Virginia data.

Note: This story has been changed since publication to distinguish between the Endeavour Legacy Foundation and the Pauley Family Foundation. 

Inova receives $20M gift from Peterson Cos. family

Inova Health System has received a $20 million gift from the Peterson Family Foundation, the family behind the Peterson Cos. real estate development firm, the Falls Church-based health system announced Tuesday.

The gift will be split, with $15 million dedicated to the Inova Life with Cancer program and $5 million to the expansion of Inova Fairfax Hospital’s emergency room. The Life with Cancer program, which will be renamed Inova Peterson Life with Cancer, provides education and psychosocial support, including support groups, nutritional consultations and therapeutic and art counseling, for free to individuals impacted by cancer and their families. Peterson Cos.’ late founder, Milton V. Peterson, and his wife, Carolyn, helped create the Life with Cancer program in 1988. They founded their family foundation in 1997.

“We are deeply proud of the tremendous impact that Life with Cancer has had for the community over the past 36 years, and it means so much to our family to be able to support and help ensure its future impact as well,” Lauren Peterson, president of the Peterson Family Foundation and Milt and Carolyn Peterson’s daughter, said in a statement.

The privately held, Fairfax-based Peterson Cos. was founded in 1965 by Peterson, who died in 2021; it’s now led by his son, Jon Peterson, who became CEO in 2018 and is chairman of the executive committee. Peterson Cos.’ developments include National Harbor in Maryland, home to the MGM National Harbor casino resort; the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center; The Capital Wheel; and numerous other retail, office and residential developments. Peterson Cos. also developed Fairfax Corner, Fair Lakes, Burke Centre and Tysons McLean Office Park.

Inova Fairfax’s expanded emergency room will include more beds for patient privacy, an EmPATH (Emergency Psychiatry Assessment, Treatment and Healing) unit to provide acute behavioral health care and a dedicated entrance for pediatric emergencies. The first phase of the $161 million expansion will likely be completed by the end of this year, an Inova spokesperson told Virginia Business in March, when the health system announced it had received a $10 million planned gift commitment from Apex Systems co-founder Win Sheridan. The Fairfax emergency room is a Level 1 Trauma Center.

“We felt it was important to support the Inova Fairfax Emergency Room project, given the important role it plays in our entire community’s health,” Jon and William “Rick” Peterson said in a statement. Rick Peterson is Peterson Cos.’ chairman of the investment board, which oversees its non-real estate assets.

The Peterson family hosted the first Lobster Extravaganza fundraiser for Life with Cancer — an annual event that has now raised more than $20 million, according to a news release — in 1998 on the lawn of Milt and Carolyn’s home, and the family has continued to support the program.

Including this latest donation, the Peterson family has given more than $50 million to Inova over the past 30 years, according to a news release. In 2014, the family donated $10 million to Inova, the first eight-figure gift the health system received.

“We are deeply grateful to the Peterson family for building on their remarkable leadership and legacy with this latest transformational gift to support Life with Cancer and our much-needed renovation at our Inova Fairfax Emergency Room,” Inova President and CEO Dr. J. Stephen Jones said in a statement. “Their generous support has made a significant impact over the past three decades and will continue to impact our community for decades to come.”

Almost a year before the Peterson family’s donation, in May 2023, repeat donors Dwight and Martha Schar gave $75 million to Inova, bringing their total amount given to the health system since 1993 to more than $126 million. Dwight Schar is the retired founder of Reston-based Fortune 500 homebuilding and mortgage banking business NVR Inc.

Inova, a regional health system, has 24,000 employees across five hospitals and multiple other care facilities.

W&M receives $30M anonymous donation

An anonymous William & Mary alumna has donated $30 million to renovate and rename a building in honor of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, who is currently the university’s chancellor.

Robert M. Gates Hall will house three academic centers — the Global Research Institute, the Institute for Integrative Conservation and the Whole of Government Center of Excellence — W&M announced Wednesday. Brown Hall, a currently vacant building on the Williamsburg campus, will be renovated to become Gates Hall, a LEED-certified facility with gathering spaces, in addition to the three centers. The W&M Foundation, which owns and operates Brown Hall, will partner with the W&M Real Estate Foundation in the renovation, which is expected to be finished by 2026, in time for celebrations marking the nation’s 250th anniversary.

“I have long admired President [Katherine] Rowe’s leadership and am thrilled to support her bold vision through reimagined spaces where new knowledge can grow, and grand challenges find solutions,” the anonymous donor said in a statement. “I am thankful for the opportunity to recognize Chancellor Gates. Given the divisions in our nation and world, we need leaders of his caliber, patriotism and integrity — now more than ever.” The anonymous alumna is a member of the W&M Foundation board, according to the university’s announcement.

The $30 million donation is William & Mary’s third largest individual gift. Earlier major donations include an anonymous couple’s $50 million donation in 2015 to the university’s law and business schools, 1955 alumna Martha Wren Briggs’ $31.7 million gift in 2016 for the Muscarelle Museum of Art, 1932 alumnus Roy R. Charles’ 1999 bequest of $24.5 million to start the Charles Center for Academic Excellence, and Walter J. Zable’s $23.9 million bequest in 2013, which funded football scholarships and stadium renovations.

The Global Research Institute was founded in 2008 as a multidisciplinary center that applies research to worldwide issues, and according to W&M, has collaborated with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, the State Department and other organizations. The Institute for Integrative Conservation was established in 2020 to focus on ecological conservation issues. The Whole of Government Center of Excellence was launched in 2017 as part of W&M’s master of public policy degree offerings, and it focuses on national security and interagency collaboration.

“This is the greatest honor I’ve received in my lifetime,” said Gates, a 1965 W&M graduate. “William & Mary is where I felt called to public service, and I can see that the call to make a difference is still felt strongly here. This building will serve as a hub for generations of students and faculty to cultivate new ideas to contribute to the nation and the world.”

A rendering of the future Robert M. Gates Hall on William & Mary’s campus in Williamsburg. Image courtesy William & Mary

Gates served as defense secretary under President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, and is the only person to serve as head of the DOD under two consecutive presidents of different political parties. In 2022, William & Mary started the annual Gates Forum, in which political leaders gather to discuss U.S. policies, and the new Gates Hall will host future forums and other events.

Brown Hall was built on the corner of Prince George and North Boundary streets, near Colonial Williamsburg, in 1930 as an off-campus residence for Methodist women students at William & Mary, and later served as a male student dormitory, Army housing, rented space for military families, upperclassmen residences and, most recently, a freshman dorm. In 2021, the building ended its use as student housing.

Gates Hall will include two wings with a courtyard in the middle, including a balcony and an outdoor learning space.

Before work starts to convert Brown Hall to Gates Hall beginning this fall, archaeologists will conduct excavations at the site, where the Williamsburg Bray School for enslaved and free Black children was started in 1760. William & Mary and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation plan to collaborate on preservation and documentation of the school’s history, continuing excavation work begun several years ago. Gates Hall will host exhibits on the Bray School’s history and legacy, according to W&M.

“We are deeply grateful for our trustee’s passion for conservation and sustainability — so important to the work that will take place in this special building,” W&M President Katherine Rowe said in a statement. “Like the chancellor, she is a true servant leader; she does not seek recognition for herself. Through her partnership, across the university, she has inspired us to aim high. Gates Hall will build on other initiatives that her generosity has brought to life here.”

Philanthropy: Accelerating advances

Over the past year, Virginia philanthropists continued to support medical research and higher education, with several demonstrating their commitment through subsequent donations.

Northern Virginia philanthropists Dwight and Martha Schar carried on their longtime support of Falls Church- based Inova Health System, providing a $75 million matching gift to the health system in May 2023. Inova will use the gift to support research, outreach, prevention and early diagnosis of cardiovascular ailments, including hiring more health care professionals and expanding specialty services. Counting this most recent gift, the Schars have donated $126 million to Inova since 1993. Dwight Schar founded Reston-based Fortune 500 company NVR, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders and mortgage banking companies.

To support cancer and neuroscience research, the Red Gates Foundation, established by the estate of Richmond philanthropist Bill Goodwin’s late son, Hunter, committed $50 million to the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC in September 2023. Hunter Goodwin’s parents and estate made a $250 million donation in 2021 to kickstart a national cancer research foundation.

In the past year, Virginia universities reported record gifts, multiple of which funded scholarships.

In October 2023, philanthropists David and Kathleen LaCross added $50 million to their October 2022 donation of $44 million for the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. David LaCross, who founded and sold financial tech company Risk Management Technologies, earned his MBA from Darden, and Kathleen LaCross earned her bachelor’s degree from U.Va. Their 2022 gift launched Darden’s Artificial Intelligence Initiative, and the $50 million donation will help pay for additional AI research and instruction, as well as a residential college at Darden.

U.Va. Darden also received a $5 million commitment from Stephen and Phyllis Bachand in December 2023 to establish a professorship focused on business ethics. The university will match the gift from the former president and CEO of Canadian Tire Corp. and his wife to reach the endowment required to establish a professorship.

Additionally, donors supported U.Va.’s McIntire School of Commerce, with Ramon W. Breeden Jr., founder and chair of Virginia Beach-based developer The Breeden Co., giving U.Va. $50 million to be divided between the university’s renovation and expansion of McIntire and work on a new athletics complex.

U.Va. alumnus John Connaughton and his wife, Stephanie, donated $10 million in March 2023, funding need-based undergraduate scholarships for McIntire students. John Connaughton is co-managing partner of Bain Capital, and Stephanie Connaughton is an angel investor and senior adviser to several startups.

In Northern Virginia, George Mason University’s business school received a $50 million bequest from the late Donald G. Costello, a Loudoun County native and business owner, in April 2023. The largest individual gift in George Mason’s 75-year history, the bequest establishes an endowment for undergraduate and graduate business student scholarships, and the university renamed its business school for Costello.

In October 2023, Virginia Tech announced it had received a $10 million donation from Preston White, the founder of Virginia Beach-based contractor Century Concrete, and his wife, Catharine, to create the Preston and Catharine White Endowed Diversity Scholarship.

The late Irene Piscopo Rodgers, a 1959 graduate of the University of Mary Washington, bequeathed $30 million to her alma mater, the largest donation in the university’s 115-year history. The gift, announced in March 2023, will grow UMW’s undergraduate research program and support four new scholarships.

University of Richmond alumni and previous donors Carole and Marcus Weinstein gave to the university twice last year, donating $25 million to support a student learning center and $3 million for the chaplaincy to support Jewish life. In September 2023, UR’s Robins School of Business reported a $10 million gift from an anonymous alumnus to establish an endowed scholarship fund.

As in previous years, the commonwealth’s philanthropists remain forward-looking, supporting the immediate and future development of both health care and education. 

 

U.Va. receives $5M donation for business ethics professorship

The former president and CEO of Canadian Tire Corp. and his wife have committed $5 million to establish a University of Virginia Darden School of Business professorship focused on business ethics.

U.Va. President Jim Ryan announced the donation by Stephen and Phyllis Bachand to the Darden School Foundation on Dec. 19, 2023. The university will match the gift with $5 million from its Bicentennial Professorship Fund to reach the endowment required for a university professorship.

Stephen Bachand graduated from U.Va.’s Darden School of Business with an MBA in 1963. That year, according to a 1999 article in The Washington Post, he started working at Maryland-based home improvement chain Hechinger as an executive assistant to John Hechinger, who became the company’s president in 1986. After more than 20 years overseeing back-office operations, Bachand was given charge of store operations at Hechinger.

He served as president and CEO of Toronto-based hardware retailer Canadian Tire Corp. from 1993 to 2000, according to Bloomberg. In 1999, the Post credited Bachand with turning around the company, which reported double-digit profit growth in 1998 after five years of declining growth. The company now has more than 1,700 retail locations.

“U.Va.’s Darden School of Business has had a transformative impact on me and my career,” Bachand said in a statement. “To this day, I remain inspired by the school’s mission to develop responsible leaders and foster ethical practice in business. … I see the university professorship as a powerful vehicle to cultivate an enduring legacy of ethical thinking and practice, impacting not just individuals, but generations of business leaders and organizations worldwide.”

U.Va.’s president and provost will appoint the holder of the Stephen E. Bachand University Professorship. University professorships are awarded to distinguished professors whose scholarship exceeds the boundaries of a particular school or is interdisciplinary, according to a U.Va. news release.

“I’m deeply grateful to Stephen and Phyllis Bachand for their generous investment in a university professorship in business ethics,” Ryan said in a statement. “Their gift will help foster vibrant teaching, learning and research in the field, which will help strengthen ethical business practices in organizations beyond [U.Va.’s] Grounds.”

Bachand has previously donated to U.Va. and Darden, making his first gift to Darden in 1972. As of October 2022, the Bachands had given between $1 million and $2.4 million total to the business school, with his primary focus being first-generation students, of which he was one.

Lego donates $1M to six Richmond-area nonprofits

Lego Group has distributed $1 million in grants across six Richmond region nonprofits, the Danish toymaker announced Thursday.

The company, which broke ground in April on its $1 billion manufacturing facility in Chesterfield County, awarded the funding to organizations serving children and families as part of its commitment to help kids “learn through play.”

“Today we are pleased to extend our support for the greater Richmond community,” Lego Chief Operations Officer Carsten Rasmussen said in a statement. “This new factory is a strategic addition to our global supply network that sets us up for long-term growth. Playing a meaningful role in the communities in which we operate and call home is an integral part of this strategy.”

The six organizations receiving grants are:

  • Blue Sky Fund, to support its Explorers program, which provides science instruction in natural environments for Richmond Public Schools students in the third, fourth and fifth grades;
  • Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Richmond, where the funding will support Playful Pathways, a hands-on, skill-based empowerment program for underserved youth;
  • James River Association, to increase access to hands-on outdoor education and play-based learning and support organizational capacity to extend programming to new formats;
  • Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, to expand its organizational capacity for youth and family engagement programs, including its summer camp program for children from under-resourced communities;
  • SOAR365, to advance its pediatric therapy program offering early intervention and outpatient therapy;
  • and YMCA of Greater Richmond, to support its Power Scholars Academy, a summer enrichment program for at-risk students.

Lego previously donated to Richmond nonprofit organizations in 2022, giving $215,000 to the Science Museum of Virginia and $100,000 to the Children’s Museum of Richmond.

Lego’s Chesterfield County facility is expected to create 1,760 area jobs over 10 years, and the company is currently recruiting for its nearby external packing facility. Lego previously announced it planned to hire more than 500 employees by the end of this year to work in a temporary facility packaging toy kits produced elsewhere.

Production in the permanent facility is expected to begin in 2025. The manufacturing plant will have 13 buildings spanning more than 1.7 million square feet, with office spaces; molding, processing and packing buildings; and a warehouse.

Lego established its U.S. entity, Lego Systems, in 1973. The toymaker has more than 3,000 employees and more than 100 stores in the United States, including four in Virginia — in Arlington, McLean, Virginia Beach and Woodbridge.