Dr. Ruth Gottesman, a former professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is donating $1 billion to the New York City school, the largest contribution of its kind ever made in the United States, to cover all of its students’ tuition, the institution announced on Monday.
According to Reuters, the professor is donating from the fortune left by her late husband, David “Sandy” Gottesman, a Wall Street banker and early Berkshire Hathaway investor who died in September 2022.
In a joint statement with the school, she said, “I am very thankful to my late husband, Sandy, for leaving these funds in my care, and I feel blessed to be given the great privilege of making this gift to such a worthy cause.”
Ruth Gottesman joined the medical faculty in 1968, where she conducted research on children’s learning difficulties and established an adult literacy program. Currently, she chairs the Einstein Board of Trustees and serves on the board of the Montefiore Health System, the school’s affiliated hospital.
The donation will pay tuition for all current full-time students in the spring semester of 2024, as well as tuition-free enrollment for all incoming students. After graduation, many students at the school owe more than $200,000. According to Reuters, tuition costs around $60,000 each year.
“This transformational gift is intended to attract a talented and diverse pool of individuals who may not otherwise have the means to pursue a medical education. It is the largest gift given to a medical school in the nation,” the statement read.
The school, which serves approximately 1,100 children, is located in the Bronx, which ranks bottom in New York State for health outcomes and factors, according to the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
