Ruth Gottesman Donates $1 Billion to Albert Einstein College of Medicine: A Historic Legacy

2024-03-02 04:09:27

Students jumped from their seats and erupted in applause and cheers when Professor Emerita Ruth Gottesman revealed the contents of the donation she had made to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, United States. The viral video of the announcement has gone around the world.

Gottesman, 93, donated $1 billion to this college in the city’s poorest district to pay students’ college fees, which amount to $59,000 a year. It is one of the largest donations ever made to a university in the United States and the most significant to a medical school.

Albert Einstein College of Medicine students who are in their final year of study will have their final quarter tuition refunded, and starting in August, all students, including those already enrolled, will receive free tuition.

Who is Ruth Gottesman?

Ruth Gottesman, currently a member of the university’s Board of Trustees, has a more than fifty-year relationship with Albert Einstein University. In 1968, the professor, who earned her doctorate in education from Columbia University, joined the Albert Einstein Childhood Assessment and Rehabilitation Center.

Gottesman is the widow of David “Sandy” Gottesman, a pioneering investor in Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet’s conglomerate. With an estimated fortune of $3 billion at the time of her death in September 2022, her generosity lives on through this monumental donation.

“He left me, without my knowledge, an entire portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway shares,” the professor told The New York Times. The instructions were very simple: “Do what you think is right with it.”

Professor Gottesman, with more than 50 years of dedication to Albert Einstein, has left a significant legacy. In addition to being the founding director of the Emily Fisher Landau Center for the Treatment of Learning Disabilities, she launched the first adult literacy program in 1992.

The special condition imposed by the benefactor is that the name of the school, Albert Einstein, remains unchanged. This detail preserves the legacy of the legendary physicist who agreed to lend his name when the institution opened its doors in 1955.

Reactions on social networks

Social networks have exploded with the announcement of this extraordinary donation. “Woooooo, I loved that lady, she has given him the best thing that can be given to a human being: Studies,” wrote one user. “So many young people who want to study medicine and could not afford it or the privilege. “Humanity is losing its talents,” said another user. “Tremendous contribution to that generation. It has no price but it is of incalculable value,” commented another. “Standing applause for that lady,” said another netizen in the news.

In short, Ruth Gottesman’s shocking $1 billion gift marks a milestone in the history of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her generosity has paved the way for future doctors to pursue their dreams without the financial burden of tuition, leaving an indelible legacy in American education and medicine.

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