Harvard University received the maximum individual donation in its 378 years of history, with a guarantee of $ 350 million (million dollars) to support the School of Public Health, part of a rich family dedicated to real estate in Hong Kong .
The gift from the Chan family represents over 75% of the recent campaign goal of raising for the School of Public Health at Harvard, which is seeking 450 million dollars for 2018. Dean Julio Frenk, said it was a transformative donation that could boost research programs and student scholarships. The gift will help find and promote solutions for the four global threats: pandemic, physical and social environmental hazards, humanitarian crises and inefficiencies in health systems, school officials said.
The contribution will go towards the bottom of larger donations, about 32 billion dollars, the largest in the United States, and its $ 6 billion fundraising campaign, which ends in 2018.
While medicine tends to focus on individual treatment, preventive public health initiatives can have impact on entire communities, said Gerald Chan, who graduated from the Harvard School of Public Health in the 70's.
Chan made the donation in honor of his late father, TH Chan, for whom the school is renamed. A man "who was just" TH Chan founded one of the largest corporate real estate in Hong Kong, Hang Lung Properties.
Gerald and his brother Ronnie occupy 17th place in the Forbes list of the richest people in Hong Kong, with a net worth of $ 3 billion. Gerald Chan also said it owns more than 120 million dollars in Harvard Square properties.
The family has made many donations before, but Chan said he and his brother wanted to give a great gift now, when his mother was still alive and well. The second largest philanthropic effort of the family was founded Morningside College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The School of Public Health has made discoveries that have led to the polio vaccine and the eradication of smallpox, among other achievements.
