Old Dominion's first capital campaign will call upon alumni over the next year and a half to build upon the success it has experienced already. The Campaign for Old Dominion University surpassed its initial goal of $47.85 million this spring with gifts from just over 1,000 alumni, friends of the university, corporations and foundations.

"The remarkable success of the capital campaign reflects the ever-growing reputation of Old Dominion in Hampton Roads and beyond as an innovative and valued institution of higher education," said President James V. Koch.

For the next phase of the campaign, the university's more than 70,000 alumni will be asked to contribute. The goal is to raise $10 million for academic scholarships and $5 million for athletic scholarships.

To date, the campaign has raised more than $2.5 million for academic scholarships, $10 million for endowed faculty chairs and professorships, nearly $10 million for library and classroom technology, and over $1 million for an oceanography research vessel. Donors gave more than $3 million for the Virginia Beach Center and more than $9 million in unrestricted gifts.

The largest overall gift - $10 million - came from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. It included a challenge grant for faculty endowments (professorships and chairs), technology and renovation of the Sailing Center.

Virginia Beach resident and retired businessman Theodore F. Constant donated the next largest gift of $5 million to support development of the University Village.

The Patricia and Douglas Perry Foundation gave a generous gift to support library technology and a psychology chair. The library was named in honor of the Perrys, both of whom attended Old Dominion.

Thanks to a generous gift from the Gornto family, Old Dominion opened in January its state-of-the-art Albert Brooks Gornto Jr. TELETECHNET Center, the new home of the university's distance learning program. "Buck" Gornto '56 was a longtime supporter of the university.

Other major donations came from: Landmark Communications vice chairman and president - and former Old Dominion Board of Visitors rector - Richard F. Barry III for a math professorship in memory of his father; the Lobeck-Taylor Foundation, for an entrepreneurship chair in the College of Business and Public Administration; and the family of the original benefactor of the oceanography program, Fay Slover, for a new vessel to be named for her.

The campaign also received many other notable corporate and individual donations, including $500,000 from Richard Cheng, a former faculty member who is now president of ECI Systems and Engineering, for a chair in computer science.

Current and former Old Dominion employees, as well as members of university boards, combined for a contribution of more than $2 million to the campaign.

Many of the area's business leaders played major roles in the campaign's success. Frank Batten and Barry of Landmark Inc. co-chaired the campaign Steering Committee.