Harvard University has received the single largest donation in the institution’s history, a $350m gift from venture capitalist Gerald Chan. The money will go to Harvard’s School of Public Health.
The donation comes via a foundation supported by Chan, who is an alumnus of the school and has long been supporting the university financially along with his brother Ronnie Chan.
Harvard plans to change the school’s name to T. H. Chan School of Public Health in honour of Chan’s late father. It is the first time the university changes a school’s name following a donation.
The school plans to use the money for all its operations but with a focus on four public health threats: pandemics, environmental threats such as pollution, poverty and collateral damage from wars, and inefficient health care systems.
Chan graduated with two degrees from the School of Public Health in the 1970. The Harvard Crimson, the university’s daily newspaper, noted that Chan had been quietly buying more than $100m worth of real estate in Harvard Square over the past few years.
Chan told the newspaper: “I think the Harvard School of Public Health has a very unique voice which should be heard more clearly within the larger community.”
