For obvious reasons I will not be too specific, but I am aware of a situation (at a private research university) where a company with a somewhat less-than-stellar public reputation has endowed a chair professorship. The concerned department and dean want one of their current professors to accept the chair (though some of the faculty would much prefer a new search to fill the position). There is some reluctance to accept this offer, in large part because the professor being offered the chair balks at becoming a "brand ambassador" for the company making the endowment while getting no explicit benefit (the chair would cover only the salary that is paid anyway). This professor (who is evidently preferred as having the best research profile in the department) and some colleagues also claim that an endowment named after some individual(s) would have been more acceptable.
So my questions are:
Is it generally the norm that any academic offered a chair professorship will accept it, for collegiality?
Is it standard for such an endowment to cover only the professor's salary but not offer any grants, etc.?
Also, is there a real difference in perception between an endowment named after a person/family vs. one named after a company?