President Marvin Krislov has just announced that three separate gifts in the amount of $4 million each have been pledged to Oberlin: $4 million for environmental stewardship and $8 million toward construction of the Phyllis Litoff Building, the new home for jazz studies.

"This is a great day for Oberlin," says President Krislov. "These gifts celebrate the leadership, creativity, and innovative spirit found throughout Oberlin, a place where solutions to environmental issues are explored, and where the frontiers of music are expanded."

A Cleveland area family, which wishes to remain anonymous at this time, has committed $2.5 million of its $4 million gift for an endowed chair in environmental studies. The College has agreed to match this gift with a second endowed chair. The Environmental Studies Program currently has one endowed chair, the Paul Sears Professorship held by David Orr. "It was President Krislov's vision, confidence, and leadership with respect to environmental issues that inspired the family to make this gift," says Orr.

An additional $1 million of the $4 million gift will be dedicated to technological upgrades within the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies. The remaining $500,000 will be earmarked for environmental planning grants to be shared by the College and the City of Oberlin. "This will allow us to hire the best minds to address environmental issues and pursue energy conservation studies," adds Orr.

"Environmental sustainability is an integral component of Oberlin’s Strategic Plan," says President Krislov. "As you know, environmentalism is one of the central callings of our time, and Oberlin is determined to play a leading role."

The two gifts pledged to Oberlin in support of the Phyllis Litoff Building also help to advance the Conservatory's commitment to environmental sustainability; the Litoff Building is intended to be the first music facility in the world to attain a gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating.

Oberlin graduate Clyde McGregor '74 of Chicago, Illinois, a member of Oberlin's Board of Trustees, has pledged $4 million to the Litoff Building. His gift is being made in honor of his mother, Lilly Marie Smith '43.

Oberlin graduate Joseph Clonick '57, also of Chicago, Illinois, who made an earlier gift of $1 million dollars to support construction of the Litoff Building, has pledged an additional $4 million. His contributions will support a recording studio and performance space for the project.

Both $4 million gifts will augment the commitment by Cleveland businessman Stewart Kohl '77 and his wife, Donna, who launched the Litoff building project in 2005 with a lead gift of $5 million—the largest private gift in support of jazz education at a U.S. college.

"I am extremely grateful to Clyde McGregor and Joe Clonick for their extraordinary generosity and support for the Phyllis Litoff Building and Oberlin," says Dean of the Conservatory David H. Stull. "Their leadership in ensuring the future excellence of the Conservatory of Music and the College of Arts and Sciences is remarkable, and we are all honored by these exceptional commitments from Mr. McGregor and Mr. Clonick."

The Phyllis Litoff Building, which will be designed by the architectural firm of Westlake Reed Leskosky, will house the Conservatory of Music’s jazz studies department and its academic programs in music history and music theory. In addition to the gold LEED rating to which the building aspires, it will include a world-class recording studio and the largest privately held jazz recording collection in the U.S.; the latter is a gift from James and Susan Neumann of Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Neumann is a 1958 graduate of Oberlin.