Big Spender

Louisiana State University has received a $125 million gift, said to be the largest ever made to an educational institution, from C B Pennington, an 83-year-old oil executive. The New York Times reported last week.

The value of the gift is roughly equivalent to 6 percent of Harvard's endowment.

Pennington said he wanted the money to be used to build the "country's biggest and best nutrition and preventive medicine center" near the university's campus at Baton Rouge.

"The Louisiana soil and what is beneath it have been good to me," said Pennington, who was born and reared in the state and made his fortune in a 40-year career of wildcatting for oil, natural gas and mineral deposits.

University officials said the gift was made official about six weeks ago when the transfer of stocks was completed. The $125 million is a "low estimate," according to James Calhoun, director of information at Louisiana State, and the ultimate value of the gift may well be substantially more.