Patron contributes $1 million

Beverly Koski, a Sarasota philanthropist and the widow of the co-founder Sun Hydraulics, donated $1 million to New College of Florida.

The gift will be used to build a bell tower next to the Jane Bancroft Cook Library on the campus, which is a few miles north of downtown Sarasota on U.S. 41. The tower will be named for Beverly and her late husband Robert Koski. The remainder of the gift will be used to pay for other projects at the college, which turns 50 years old this year.

The Koskis have been involved in New College since the late 1960s. Bob Koski and a colleague at an engineering company founded Sun Hydraulics in 1970. Sun Hydraulics, which has been lauded for its flat management structure created by Koski, has since become one of the most successful publicly traded companies in the Sarasota-Bradenton region.