Dr. Ruth Gottsman who donated $1 billion to medical school/screenshot, YouTube
A New York medical school will offer students free tuition following a $1 billion donation from the 93-year-old widow of a major Wall Street investor.
The gift to the "Albert Einstein College of Medicine" came from Dr. Ruth Gottsman, a former lecturer at the school located in the Bronx. It is one of the largest donations ever made to a US school and the largest ever made to a medical school.
In a statement, the university's dean, Dr. Yaron Tomer, said that the "transformative" gift "creates a radical revolution in our ability to continue to attract students who are committed to our mission, not just those who can afford it."
Tuition at the school is nearly $59,000 (for over 200 thousand shekels) each year, leaving students with large debts.
Einstein's statement noted that students in their final year will receive a refund for their tuition in the spring of 2024, and from August all students, including those currently enrolled, will receive free tuition.
Dr. Gottesman, now 93, began working at the school in 1968. She studied learning disabilities, ran literacy programs, and developed widely used screening and assessment protocols. Her late husband, David "Sandy" Gottesman, founded a prominent investment house and was an early investor in Berkshire Heath. Wye, Warren Buffett's multinational conglomerate. He died in September 2022 at the age of 96.
Dr. Gottesman said in a statement that the doctors who train at Einstein continue to "provide the best health care to communities here in the Bronx and around the world."
She added: "I am very grateful to my late husband, Sandy, for leaving these funds in my care, and he feels blessed to have been given the great privilege of making this gift to such a worthy cause," she added.
In an interview with the New York Times, she recalled that her late husband left her "a whole portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway stocks" when he died with the instructions to "do what you think is right with it."
"I wanted to fund students at Einstein so that they would receive free tuition," said Dr. Gottsman, who, she said, immediately understood what she had to do. "There was enough money to do it forever."
She added that she occasionally wonders what her husband would have thought of the donation. Hopefully he's smiling and not frowning," she said. "He gave me the opportunity to do it, and I think he'll be happy - I hope so."
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