Harvard Gets Its Biggest Donation Ever: $350M

An alum is handing Harvard its biggest donation ever. The university's School of Public Health will receive $350 million from Gerald Chan, 63, the head of a property developer in Hong Kong. He chose the School of Public Health for his donation after he was inspired by a teacher at the school, the Wall Street Journal reports. Chan wants to see the money go to research fighting Ebola and other worldwide threats; meanwhile, the school will be renamed after his father as the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. As the Journal points out, the donation to the rich school fits a trend: Last year, schools that already had more than $1 billion in cash and investments took 67% of the year's total gift money, while schools with less than $100 million received less than 3%. (More Harvard stories.)