The Campaign for Washington has received gifts and pledges totaling $181.5 million as of Sept. 30, including a $6 million bequest from Howard L. Kleinoeder, a 1940 UW business graduate. Those figures put the campaign, the UW’s first major fund drive, at 73 percent of its $250 million goal.
The Kleinoeder gift, which will create an endowment for medical research and education, is the largest bequest in the University’s history and the second-largest gift ever received from an individual. Kleinoeder was born and raised in Seattle. After graduating from the UW, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and then entered the marine insurance business. He rose from branch manager of the Seattle office of the American International Marine Agency to president of the company. He died in June at age 73.
This fall the Campaign for Washington began its “regional gifts” phase. During the next two years, volunteers and University representatives will try to contact all of the UW’s alumni and friends nationwide to ask for a campaign gift. Special attention is being paid to regions where UW alumni tend to reside and where alumni leadership already is in place, according to Marilyn Dunn, who is president of the University of Washington Foundation.
“Having alumni willing to help with this effort is crucial to the success of the campaign,” says Dunn. “We have committees of volunteers in New York, California, Oregon and throughout Washington and we are grateful for their help carrying the campaign to alumni and friends beyond the Seattle area. We also have committees representing the University’s schools and colleges who are part of the regional gifts effort.”
The Regional Gifts Steering Committee is chaired by Virginia Anderson of Seattle. Vice chairs who head region-based committees are: Bruce D. Garrison, New York; Donald L. and Joan C. Hanley, Los Angeles; Laurie R. Miller, Portland, Ore.; Robert F. Northfield, San Francisco; Keith Douglas, State of Washington; David L. Broom, Spokane; Mari J. Clack, Spokane; William B. Douglas, Yakima; and William W. Philip, Tacoma.
Although meeting the goals of the Campaign for Washington is the immediate focus of regional gifts volunteers, Dunn says, a long term goal is to foster closer relationships between the University and its alumni outside the Seattle area.