Billionaire Ken Griffin gives $300M to Harvard
Citadel founder's alma mater will now rename its Graduate School of Arts and Sciences after him
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Hedge fund billionaire and Harvard University alum Ken Griffin has donated another $300 million to his alma mater, and the Ivy League institution is now renaming a graduate school after him.
Harvard announced Griffin's unrestricted gift to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Tuesday, saying his latest contribution brings his total donations to the university to over $500 million.
Ken Griffin, chief executive officer and founder of Citadel Advisors LLC, speaks at the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 7, 2023. Harvard University announced Tuesday Griffin made another $300 million donation to the institut … (Photographer: Saul Martinez/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The university's press release said the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences will be renamed the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in his honor to recognize his four decades of giving to the institution.
"Ken’s exceptional generosity and steadfast devotion enable excellence and opportunity at Harvard," Harvard President Larry Bacow said in a statement. "His choice to support FAS underscores the power of education to transform lives and to expand the reach of our research in every field imaginable."
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"It has been a great pleasure to get to know Ken throughout my presidency, and I am deeply and personally appreciative of the confidence he has placed in us – and in our mission – to do good in the world," Bacow added.
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin speaks at the 2022 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 2, 2022. (Reuters / Reuters Photos)
Griffin began investing from his dorm room at Harvard as a sophomore and graduated in 1989. He went on to found the hedge fund Citadel, which manages some $59 billion in assets, as well as market maker Citadel Securities. The investing titan remains CEO of Citadel and non-executive chairman at Citadel Securities.
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Harvard said Griffin's $150 million donation to the school for undergraduate financial aid in 2014 remains the largest single gift for financial aid in the institution's history. That endowed gift alone currently supports 228 students, and has supported more than 600 to date.
A view of the campus of Harvard University on July 08, 2020 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Griffin also previously made donations to Harvard Law School, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and established the Griffin Professorship of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
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According to Forbes, Griffin's net worth is estimated at around $35 billion. He has made significant contributions to an array of institutions over the years for advancing education, health care, art and other initiatives, and his total philanthropic giving is nearing $2 billion.
Reuters contributed to this report.