Ruth Gottesman, widow of billionaire financier David Gottesman, has donated $1 billion to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY, directing that the money be used to cover tuition for all students in perpetuity. The gift is the largest ever to a US medical school and the third largest ever to higher education (Michael Bloomberg's donation to John Hopkins University tops the list).
Gottesman was a longtime professor of pediatrics at the school and is the current chairman of the school's board of trustees. Her fortune stems from her late husband, who was an early investor in Berkshire Hathaway and a longtime friend of Warren Buffet. According to Ruth, David instructions for her inheritance of Berkshire Hathaway stock was to “Do whatever you think is right with it.”
Forbes reports that 2023 was a year of record giving for colleges and universities, with more than a dozen institutions of higher education receiving contributions of $100 million or more, some even receiving their largest gift ever, for nearly $58 billion dollars in charitable giving.
Not a Vanity Project
At a time when donor sentiment is that giving is more of an investment New York Times praises Gottesman for her humility and refreshing “lack of any apparent vanity” about the gift, reporting that Gottesman does not want the school renamed after her (in fact, the gift is conditioned on the opposite, that the school not change its name her). The publication specifically distinguishes Gottesman's gift to Bronx College (the Bronx is New York City's poorest borough) from several other significant recent donations that tend to fund facilities and institutions in affluent neighborhoods, citing the recent donation of Julia Koch's $75 million for a medical center in the West. Palm Beach, Fla., which serves what Chronicle of Philanthropy described as “one of Florida's fastest-growing affluent enclaves,” as an example (Koch is one of the the richest women in the world). Gottesman initially wanted the donation to be anonymous until Philip Ozuah, who oversees the college, pointed out that it might inspire others.
Gottesman hopes to allow students who may not be able to afford medical school to pursue their dreams and reduce the burden of student loan debt for those who graduate (annual college tuition is roughly $59,000).
A new trend in giving?
Quiet luxury, the most significant trend in fashion, is characterized by understated elegance, moving away from obvious displays of wealth through labels or logos and the like. It will be interesting to see if Gottesman's donation inspires a similar trend of understated generosity in philanthropy.
“It is wonderful to witness such generosity. Wealthy clients today are considering larger and larger gifts to charity, and in practice, I find these gifts to be most effective when they are contributed during the donor's lifetime so they can comment. It helps drive the trend,” said Cynthia D. Brittain, partner at Karlin & Peebles, LLP in Los Angeles.
“We expect to see more large gifts to trust and large gifts to charity in the coming year,” she added.