- New York City-based Albert Einstein College of Medicine will become tuition-free after it was announced Monday that it had received a $1 billion gift from former professor Ruth Gottesman. .
- Ms. Gottesman’s late husband, David, was a member of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway board of directors, and she credited him with providing her with the means to make such a generous donation.
- “I feel blessed to have the great honor of making this gift to such a worthy cause,” Gotzman, 93, said while announcing what is believed to be the largest donation ever received by a medical school in U.S. history. Told.
New York City’s medical school will now offer free tuition to all students, thanks to a $1 billion gift from a former professor who is the widow of a Wall Street investor.
Ruth Gottesman announced the gift and its purpose to Albert Einstein College of Medicine students and faculty on Monday, with some in the audience crying and others standing and cheering. Mr. Gottesman, 93, has been with the university for 55 years, and he serves as chairman of the board of trustees.
This gift is intended to attract diverse applicants who may not otherwise have the means to participate. It also allows students to graduate without taking on debt that could take decades to pay off, university administrators said. Tuition at Einstein is $59,458 per year. According to the Education Data Initiative, the average debt for U.S. medical schools is $202,453, excluding undergraduate debt.
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“Each year, well over 100 students enroll at Albert Einstein College of Medicine seeking degrees in medicine and science,” Gottesman said. “They leave as wonderfully trained scientists and compassionate, knowledgeable physicians with the expertise to find new ways to prevent disease and provide the best health care.”
Albert Einstein College of Medicine photographed on February 26, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Gottsman said she credits her late husband, David “Sandy” Gottsman, for leaving her with the financial means to make such a donation. David Gottesman founded the Wall Street investment firm First Manhattan and was a member of the board of directors of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. He passed away in 2022 at the age of 96.
“I feel blessed to have been given the great privilege of making this gift to such a worthy cause,” said Ruth Gottesman.
The gift is believed to be the largest ever given to a medical school in the nation, according to Montefiore Einstein, the umbrella organization for Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System.
“We believe we can change the course of healthcare history by recognizing that access is the path to excellence,” said Dr. Philip Ozua, President and CEO of Montefiore Einstein. Ta.
Gottsman joined Einstein’s Child Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center in 1968 and developed screening and treatment methods for learning problems. She started the first adult literacy program at this center in 1992, and in 1998 she was appointed founding director of CERC’s Emily Fisher Landau Center for Learning Disabilities Treatment. She is a clinical professor emeritus of pediatrics at Einstein College.
Through their foundation, the Gottesman Fund, the family has supported philanthropy within the Jewish community in Israel and the United States, particularly through donations to schools, universities, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
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Einstein will become New York’s second tuition-free medical school. In 2018, New York University School of Medicine announced it would cover tuition for all students.
