Kent State University has announced two gifts totaling $12 million from alumnus John Elliot and his wife, Fonda, in support of its College of Architecture and Environmental Design.

The gifts, which include an outright gift of $10 million — the largest in the Ohio university's history — and a $2 million planned gift, will support KSU's Design Innovation Initiative as well as scholarships and programming at the college. In recognition of the Elliots' longtime support, Kent State will name the architecture school's building the John Elliot Center for Architecture and Environmental Design.

A 1970 graduate of CAED, John Elliot is a member of the Kent State University Foundation board of directors and campaign executive committee. With his wife, a registered nurse, Elliot co-founded American Medical Facilities Management, LLC, which runs skilled-nursing, rehabilitation, and long-term care facilities in West Virginia. The largest contributors in the history of the architecture school, the couple also has provided support for the Elliot Health Care Design Program, the Elliot Professorship in Health Care Design, the Elliot Scholars program, and the Elliot Family Foundation Architectural Scholarship.

"We are deeply grateful to John and Fonda for their enduring support of Kent State, and I couldn't be more pleased that these generous and humble advocates of our university will be represented in such a notable and visible way on our campus," said KSU president Beverly J. Warren. "The Elliots have created and grown a tremendous healthcare company and are respected philanthropists, so the belief they have in the strength of our architecture program and Design Innovation Initiative is a point of pride for our university."