Atlanta-based Spelman College announced Thursday it will receive a $100 million donation from billionaire Ronda Stryker and her husband William Johnston, in what the school called the single largest donation ever to a historically Black college or university.
Thursday’s donation will be split between scholarships and academic needs.
Stryker is a director of her family medical business Stryker Corp. and has been a Spelman College Trustee since 1997, while Johnston serves as chair of Greenleaf Trust, a wealth management firm.
Some $75 million of the donation will go to endowed scholarships for future students, while the remaining $25 million will go to student housing, “develop[ing] an academic focus on public policy and democracy” and meeting other “critical strategic needs,” the school said in a statement.
The donation comes as the Atlanta-based private liberal arts college celebrates a century since its official naming in 1924.
“This gift is a critical step in our school’s mission to eliminate financial barriers to starting and finishing a Spelman education,” college president Helene Gayle said in a statement.
We estimate Stryker to be worth $7.4 billion. Stryker Corp., a medical equipment company, was founded by her grandfather in 1941, and she currently owns about 6% of the company.
Stryker and Johnston have donated to the school several other times in recent years. In 2018, they donated a historic $30 million—the largest gift from living donors at the time. The couple also matched $2 million in funds for the college in 2020. Stryker has donated to several other universities, giving $100 million to Western Michigan University in 2011 and $20 million to Harvard Medical School five years later.
Couple gives $100M to Atlanta’s Spelman College, in largest single gift to a Black college (Associated Press)
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