$55 Million Gift Pushes U. of Miami Past $1.6 Billion Target

The head of one of the country’s largest homebuilding and mortgage firms has donated $55 million to the University of Miami, primarily for construction of a new medical education building, the Miami Herald reports. With the gift from Lennar Corporation Chairman Stuart Miller and his family, announced Monday, the university hit a $1.6 billion fundraising goal more than a year ahead of schedule.

Fifty million dollars will support the new building at the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, named for Lennar’s founder. The remainder will go to the Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music. Stuart Miller chairs the university’s board of trustees, and the family and their firm are longtime Miami donors. The Lennar Foundation gave $50 million last fall to UHealth, the university’s medical network, for construction of a new outpatient center in Coral Gables.