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Just in time for the holiday season, Stony Brook University in Long Island gets a $150 million gift from a hedge fund billionaire.
James Simons, the founder of New York-based quant hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, and his wife Marilyn, attended the donation announcement at the Stony Brook campus on Wednesday. They were joined by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as a bevy of state and school officials.
The $150 million gift by the Simons is considered the largest amount donated in the history of the State University of New York, the parent system of Stony Brook, and more than twice as much as the Simons’ $60 million donation to the university in 2008.
Most of the $150 million will be given over a seven-year period to go toward medical sciences research, including the construction of a life sciences building and the creation of a neurosciences institute.
The donation will also help pay for 35 new endowed professorships, and create 40 fellowships for graduate students.
The couple spoke about their donation to the school, where James Simons was once the chairman of the math department, and where his wife earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics and met her future husband.
"Stony Brook has given me so much and I'm very happy to be able to give something back," said Marilyn Simons at the announcement.
The notoriously reclusive Simons said for years he and his wife wanted to donate money to Stony Brook but were discouraged by minimal state support for improving the university. Then, commitments from governors - starting with former governor Eliot Spitzer - to raise school tuition to upgrade facilities changed his mind.
"I really have no doubt that within the next, five, six, seven years, Stony Brook is going to join the ranks of America's and the world's truly great public universities, and I am happy to part of it and so is Marilyn," Simons said.
Additional reporting by Ricardo Kaulessar
Photo capture of video stream of hedge fund billionaire James Simons and his wife Marilyn at an announcement Wednesday of the couple's $150 million donation to Stony Brook University in New York. Credit: Ricardo Kaulessar.
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