This story is part of the Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative’s coverage of equitable community development. SWMJC is a group of 12 regional organizations dedicated to strengthening local journalism. To learn more, visit swmichjournalism.com.
KALAMAZOO, MI – If you live in the city of Kalamazoo, philanthropy pays for your child’s college tuition, subsidizes your property taxes and, if you’re a new mom, will provide $500 a month during the child’s first year.
It’s why downtown Kalamazoo has a medical school, an Epic Center to house arts organizations, an economic think tank and a sprawling new event center under construction.
It’s why Portage has a new senior center, Kalamazoo College is building new dormitories and Western Michigan University received the nation’s largest ever gift to a public university.
It’s why the community has the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre, the Air Zoo, the Kalamazoo Area Math and Science Center and an international piano festival.
To say that philanthropy has impacted Kalamazoo is an understatement.
During the 20th century, much of that was driven by either The Upjohn Co. or Upjohn family members, including the Gilmores, the Lights, the Daltons and the Parfets.
More recently, heirs of the Stryker fortune have made their mark, mainly Ronda Stryker and her husband Bill Johnston. Stryker has made the couple into billionaires, and they’ve spent hundreds of millions on local economic development initiatives.
There’s also Charles and Lynn Zhang, who run a wealth management firm in Portage, who have donated more than $20 million locally, including millions to WMU. The Zhangs contributed $2 million of the $11 for the new Portage Zhang Senior Center, helped fund a new no-kill animal shelter in Comstock Township and are helping underwrite the new Portage farmers market.
Perhaps the most notable name is retired New York Yankees Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, who grew up in Kalamazoo. His foundation’s gift funded a new $5 million state-of-the-art baseball and softball complex at Kalamazoo Central High School.
More remarkably are the string of anonymous donations in Kalamazoo, totaling more than $1.3 billion in community projects in the past two decades.
Below is a list of the noteworthy ways philanthropy has impacted the Kalamazoo area.
Anonymous gifts
- The Kalamazoo Promise, $250 million and counting: Unveiled in 2005, the sweeping scholarship program covers undergraduate tuition and fees at almost any Michigan college for graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools. Starting with the KPS Class of 2006, The Promise has paid almost $250 million in tuition for almost 9,000 students. The $250 million doesn’t include the payroll for the 29 Promise staff members nor the cost of the offices that houses the program, which also are being paid by the anonymous donors.
- Record gift for WMU, $550 million: In 2021, the WMU Foundation received $550 million, called the Empowering Futures Gift. It’s the largest gift for a public university in U.S. history. The donors committed $200 million for WMU, $300 million for the WMU medical school and $50 for WMU athletics.
- Property tax reduction, $400 million: A $400 million endowment was donated in 2021 to the Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence. The nonprofit reduces Kalamazoo city property taxes by 8 mills, saving property owners about 38% on their city property tax bill. The nonprofit also funds “aspirational” projects, such as an affordable housing initiatives, park renovations, assistance for small businesses and a lead-pipe replacement project.
- Career Connect Campus, $100 million: Funded by a $100 million donation, the state-of-the-art facility opened this fall and houses career-oriented classes for high schoolers in areas such as construction, plumbing or culinary arts. Land for the project also was donated.
- New dorms for Kalamazoo College, $30 million: A $30 million donation is funding new dormitories, which are currently under construction.
- Mental health endowment, $1.5 million: Last month, the WMU medical school received $1.5 million to establish an endowment for child and adolescent psychiatry.
Stryker-Johnston initiatives
- Radisson Hotel: Johnston purchased the Radisson Hotel in downtown Kalamazoo in 2000, thus assuring local ownership and control of the community’s most prominent hotel.
- Wings Stadium: Johnston and Stryker bought the stadium and the Kalamazoo Wings, a professional hockey team, from Ted and Martha Parfet in 2006.
- WMU medical school: In 2011, Ronda Stryker donated $100 million to establish the Dr. Homer Stryker School of Medicine at Western Michigan University. The school opened in 2014 in Upjohn’s former downtown facilities. The building was a donation from Bill Parfet, an Upjohn great-grandson, who had bought the facility from Pfizer.
- Foundation for Excellence: Johnston and Parfet created the nonprofit in 2017, seeding it with a $70 million initial donation.
- Cash for new moms: The Stryker Johnston Foundation is a major funder of RxKids in Kalamazoo, a new program that provides Kalamazoo city residents who are pregnant or new mothers with $1,500 during their pregnancy and $500 per month during the baby’s first year. The program has started popping up in cities across Michigan thanks to various funders.
- New Kalamazoo Event Center: A Johnston entity, Catalyst Development, is the primary funder for the new Kalamazoo Event Center, now under construction on the west side of downtown Kalamazoo. The $515 million arena will house WMU basketball and hockey as well as the K-Wings. It’s expected to open in 2027.
- Expansion of Kalamazoo Country Club: Catalyst Development also is behind a major expansion of the Kalamazoo Country Club, including construction of a new clubhouse and a new 11-hole course for beginners.
Upjohn Co. or family members
- Kalamazoo Community Foundation: W.E. Upjohn, founder of The Upjohn Co., launched the foundation in 1925 with $1,000 in seed money. For decades, the foundation was housed in Upjohn facilities and until 1987, the foundation’s CEO was paid by Upjohn. There’s still a link to the Upjohn family – Amy Upjohn is the current board chair.
- Kalamazoo Civic Theatre: W.E. Upjohn gifted the building to the city in 1931. His daughter Dorothy Dalton was one of the founding members of the Kalamazoo Civic Players and appeared in its productions until 1971. An annex to the Civic is the Suzanne Parish Theater, a 175-seat venue that opened in 1998 and is named for an Upjohn granddaughter.
- Upjohn Park: Land for the 18-acre park in Kalamazoo’s Edison neighborhood was donated by W.E. Upjohn in 1919. Today, it houses Kik Pool and is one of the city’s busiest parks.
- The Upjohn Institute for Employment Research: During the height of the Great Depression, W.E. Upjohn launched an initiative to help displaced workers. That morphed into the Upjohn Institute, an economic think tank studying employment-related issues. The institute is headquartered in downtown Kalamazoo.
- The Kalamazoo Nature Center: The center was founded in 1960 by a group of conservation-minded residents led by Henry Lewis Bates. That group included Mary Upjohn Meader and Martha Gilmore Parfet, who were among the 11 grandchildren of W.E. Upjohn.
- Kalamazoo Institute of Arts: Mary Meader and Martha Parfet were major benefactors. The museum’s library is named for Meader and her husband. Parfet served for years on the institute’s board.
- The Air Zoo: The aviation museum was founded in 1979 by Suzanne Parish — another granddaughter of W.E. Upjohn — and her husband, Pete. Suzanne Parish flew in the U.S. military during World War II as a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
- Gilmore Car Museum: Located just north of Gull Lake, the museum opened in 1966 exhibiting the car collection of Donald Gilmore, who was both the stepson and son-in-law of W.E. Upjohn. (His mother and W.E. married after both of their spouses died; three years later, Donald Gilmore married his stepsister, Genevieve Upjohn, oldest daughter of W.E.)
- The Gilmore Piano Festival: The biennial event was launched in 1991 and brings internationally recognized musicians to Kalamazoo. It’s named after Irving Gilmore, the another stepson of W.E. Upjohn. Irving was a music lover who died in 1986 and left the bulk of his estate to his foundation, which funds the festival and other music-related initiatives.
- Western Michigan University College of Fine Arts: WMU has received more than $30 million in grants over the years from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation. Another major benefactor was Dorothy Dalton, who served on the WMU board and spearheaded the design and development of Miller Auditorium. The WMU Dalton Center Recital Hall is named for her.
- Light Fine Arts Building at Kalamazoo College: Named for Dr. Richard Upjohn Light, another of W.E. Upjohn’s 11 grandchildren and, coincidentally, the first husband of his cousin, Mary Upjohn Meader. The largest theater in the arts complex is the Dalton Theatre, named for Dorothy Dalton.
- Kalamazoo Area Math and Science Center: A selective enrollment public high school for Kalamazoo County students, KAMSC was the brainchild of Upjohn Co. leaders, who provided $2 million to renovate the top floor of the old Kalamazoo Central High School for the program. The school opened in 1986.
- Psychiatric clinic at Borgess Hospital: It was Dorothy Dalton who launched that initiative. The psychiatric ward opened in 1957.
- Kalamazoo Wings: Martha and Ted Parfet brought professional hockey to Kalamazoo in 1973 when they acquired an IHL expansion franchise and they built Wings Stadium to house the team.
- Kalamazoo Epic Center: Housed in the former Jacobson’s department store along the downtown Kalamazoo Mall, the Epic Center is headquarters for nine local arts organizations. The initial concept was the brainchild of Ted Cooper, then-Upjohn Co. CEO. The project didn’t get under way under after Cooper’s death, but the primary funding came from the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, which was created by W.E. Upjohn’s stepson.
