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Gift of the Week/ Biomedicine in Chicago

WHO GAVE IT: Jules F. Knapp, owner of Grisham Manufacturing, a maker of security doors in Arlington, Tenn., and his wife, Gwen Knapp

WHO GOT IT: University of Chicago Hospitals

HOW MUCH: $25 million

BY REQUEST: The gift will help fund the construction of a new Center for Biomedical Discovery, scheduled for completion in early 2008, which will house the university's cancer research center, the Institute for Molecular Pediatric Science and the Ludwig Center for Metastasis Research.

YOUR NAME HERE: The Gwen and Jules Knapp Biomedical Research Center.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The 77-year-old Mr. Knapp grew up less than a mile from the university. "My mother always dreamed that I would go to the University of Chicago," recalls Mr. Knapp. "But I was not a very good student, so I didn't even apply." Instead, Mr. Knapp attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, leaving without a degree in 1949, and founded a paint company, United Coatings, in 1962. In 1994, Mr. Knapp sold his business to Pratt & Lambert for about $108 million. In 1996, Sherwin-Williams bought the merged company, Pratt & Lambert United.

In 1981, one of the Knapps' three daughters, Joy Faith Knapp, was diagnosed with lupus. She was treated at the University of Chicago hospital for several years before finally succumbing to the disease in 2000.

When Mr. Knapp first called the university to inquire about making a gift, a receptionist misunderstood and transferred his call to the hospital gift shop.

Mr. Knapp says he and his family have given more than $50 million in total, including $10 million to found the Gwen Knapp Center for Lupus and Immunology Research, also at the University of Chicago. "Research is very, very important to us," says Mr. Knapp. "We tried to find a cure for my daughter. The philosophy I have is that when I die, I die broke."

Write to Sally Beatty at sally.beatty@wsj.com

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