Kalamazoo billionaire donates $100M to Black women's college in ...

An Atlanta college will benefit from the latest large donation made by Kalamazoo businesswoman and philanthropist Ronda Stryker and her husband, William Johnston, the chairman of Greenleaf Trust. 

The couple donated $100 million to Spelman College, where Rhonda Stryker has served as a trustee since 1997. Stryker also serves as a director at Kalamazoo-based Stryker Corp., where she is the largest individual shareholder, and as vice chair and a director at Greenleaf Trust.  

The Atlanta-based private, historically Black women’s liberal arts college, founded in 1881, has about 2,300 students. 

The donation is the largest ever in the history of Spelman College and for historically black colleges and universities, said Lovette Russell, the college’s board chair. 

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“We are invigorated and inspired by this incredible act of generosity,” Spelman College President Helene Gayle said. “This gift is a critical step in our school’s mission to eliminate financial barriers to starting and finishing a Spelman education. We can’t thank Ronda Stryker enough for her selflessness and support as both a trustee and friend. There’s no doubt that Spelman College is better because of her.” 

Spelman College will use $75 million of the donation to support endowed student scholarships and the remaining $25 million “to develop an academic focus on public policy and democracy, improve student housing and provide flexible funding to meet critical strategic needs,” according to a statement. 

Russell called the donation a “transformational gift to any institution, period.” 

“We are so grateful, proud and inspired by this phenomenal gift,” she said in announcing the historic donation this morning to Spelman College students. 

The contribution continues a lengthy history of philanthropic work for Stryker and Johnston. Rhonda Stryker ranked 128th on Forbes’ 2023 list of the wealthiest Americans with a net worth of $7.4 billion. 

The couple a decade ago gave a $100 million gift to the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, named after Stryker’s grandfather. 

In 2019, their Stryker Johnston Foundation donated $57.7 million to the Foundation for Excellence, and another $28.2 million in 2020. The Foundation for Excellence was formed in 2017 to create a bridge between philanthropy and municipal finance in Kalamazoo. 

The Spelman College donation “is really about securing the future young women who want to go to Spelman far into the future,” Gayle said during an appearance this morning on the CBS Mornings show. 

U.S. News & World Report has ranked Spelman College number one among historically black colleges and universities for 17 straight years. Spelman College also graduates the most Black women who go on to earn a doctorate degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. 

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