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NEW YORK (AP) -- Billionaire media entrepreneur John Werner Kluge is giving $400 million to Columbia University for financial aid -- one of the largest gifts ever to an American university.
The New York Times reported that the university is to announce the gift from Kluge, 92, a Columbia alumnus, on Wednesday.
"Obviously, this is an extraordinary gift by any standard," said Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger. "It's huge in its consequences and effects on the university."
The gift from Kluge is the largest in the school's history and will come from his estate when he dies. The money is intended for financial aid to students, officials said.
Kluge, who attended Columbia on scholarship, credits the opportunity with helping him become a successful broadcast entrepreneur. Typically, large donations are made toward the construction of a new building or to endow a professorship.
"I'd rather by far invest in people than buildings," Kluge said in 2004. "If I can infuse a mind to improve itself, that'll pass on to their children, and to their children's children."
Kluge (pronounced KLOOG-ee) bought a single radio station in 1946 and built it into Metromedia Broadcasting. In 1983, Kluge took Metromedia private in a leveraged buyout, and he then sold off the broadcast properties piecemeal for $4.65 billion.
In 1989-91, Forbes magazine ranked Kluge as the wealthiest man in America. Last year, Kluge was still was listed as the 25th richest American with an estimated net worth of $9.1 billion.
Kluge has already given $100 million to Columbia for the Kluge Scholars Program, which has supported 500 undergraduate students.
The announcement of the gift comes as Columbia pushes ahead with a campaign to raise $4 billion, specifically for financial aid and endowed faculty at its schools.
As of last year, the Ivy League school had an endowment of more than $5 billion, larger than most universities but smaller than other Ivy League schools.
The New York Times reported that the university is to announce the gift from Kluge, 92, a Columbia alumnus, on Wednesday.
"Obviously, this is an extraordinary gift by any standard," said Columbia's president, Lee Bollinger. "It's huge in its consequences and effects on the university."
The gift from Kluge is the largest in the school's history and will come from his estate when he dies. The money is intended for financial aid to students, officials said.
Kluge, who attended Columbia on scholarship, credits the opportunity with helping him become a successful broadcast entrepreneur. Typically, large donations are made toward the construction of a new building or to endow a professorship.
"I'd rather by far invest in people than buildings," Kluge said in 2004. "If I can infuse a mind to improve itself, that'll pass on to their children, and to their children's children."
Kluge (pronounced KLOOG-ee) bought a single radio station in 1946 and built it into Metromedia Broadcasting. In 1983, Kluge took Metromedia private in a leveraged buyout, and he then sold off the broadcast properties piecemeal for $4.65 billion.
In 1989-91, Forbes magazine ranked Kluge as the wealthiest man in America. Last year, Kluge was still was listed as the 25th richest American with an estimated net worth of $9.1 billion.
Kluge has already given $100 million to Columbia for the Kluge Scholars Program, which has supported 500 undergraduate students.
The announcement of the gift comes as Columbia pushes ahead with a campaign to raise $4 billion, specifically for financial aid and endowed faculty at its schools.
As of last year, the Ivy League school had an endowment of more than $5 billion, larger than most universities but smaller than other Ivy League schools.
It's the fourth largest donation to be made to a single higher-education school, but it's the largest that is solely to be used for financial aid.
Even though I probably wont be seeing any of this money, as Columbia sent me an email saying it'll take a few years to figure out how they'll divide it up... it's still exciting.
