Memorial Church at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
Harvard has received a $150 million donation from one of its alumni, the school said Wednesday, the biggest financial gift in the history of the university, the school announced in a press release Wednesday.
Kenneth Griffin, class of 1989 and now the CEO of the hedge fund Citadel, gave the gift to Harvard’s undergraduate college, mostly to support the university’s financial aid program. The gift will support the creation of 200 Griffin scholarships and provide matching funds for 600 new scholarships “to inspire other alumni and friends to contribute to Harvard College’s financial aid program,” the university said.
“Ken Griffin’s extraordinary philanthropy is opening Harvard’s gates wider to the most talented students in the world, no matter their economic circumstances,” said Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard University.
Griffin has been a longtime supporter of financial aid initiatives at Harvard.