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Mar. 26--Carol Ammon might have just put Adelphi University, her alma mater, in a whole new league.
Ammon, a Long Island native who founded her own pharmaceutical company, has given $8.5 million to the Garden City university where she attended graduate school. It is the largest gift Adelphi has received in its 110-year history.
Adelphi President Robert A. Scott said the the magnitude of the gift catapults the university into a new level of fund-raising, while easing efforts to transform the campus's facilities and establish scholarships and an endowed professorship.
The gift, coming on the heels of millions in donations from other philanthropists, prompts other potential donors to "to take us seriously," Scott said. "... We're going to be able to say with people capable of donating $5 million to $10 million, they are not alone."
Before Ammon's gift, a donation of $1.1 million from Horace G. and Eileen McDonnell had been the university's biggest gift.
But more importantly, Scott said, is how Ammon's gift will help transform the campus for its nearly 8,000 students.
"It enhances an already very important set of academic programs through substantial investment," he said. For instance, $6.5 million of Ammon's gift will help pay for the renovation of Woodruff Hall, which houses the university's physical education, health education and exercise science programs and gym.
The renovation is part of a $94 million building project over the next three years to expand and upgrade classrooms, build new rehearsal and performance spaces and recreational and athletic facilities.
The gift from Ammon, a native of New Hyde Park who now lives in Wilmington, Del., also includes $1.5 million to establish an endowed professorship in the School of Education. Ammon's gift includes another $500,000 to endow scholarships for graduate and undergraduate students majoring in education.
Adelphi also will name its School of Education after Ammon's late mother, Ruth S. Ammon, who graduated from Adelphi in 1942 and taught second grade in New Hyde Park for many years, then became a special education teacher specializing in remedial reading.
"It gives me chills and a great feeling to know there will be a lasting tribute to my mom," Ammon said in a telephone interview Friday. "She really deserves this."
Ammon, who turns 55 on Tuesday, is retired as chief executive of Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. - though she remains chairman of the board of the company, which is based in Chadds Ford, Pa.
After retiring last year, she began thinking about philanthropic giving. Adelphi, which she said played a large role in her family, came to mind. She joined Adelphi's board of trustees last fall.
She received her master's in business administration at the university, and her brother, Frederic, received a master's degree in social work.
Ammon said the idea of naming the School of Education after her mother, who died in 1999, and establishing scholarships and a professorship in her name seemed the perfect fit.
Ammon also credited Adelphi for giving her a "terrific education," adding, "Adelphi served me very well and now it's my time to be able to help serve."
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