Presidents and Faculty Gave Millions to Their Own Universities, Data Shows

More than 30 professors, deans, and other employees have given $10 million or more since 2005 to universities where they worked, according to new data from The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Almanac.

The top donors were Jan T. and Marica F. Vilcek, who pledged $126 million to the New York University and the Langone Medical Center. Dr. Vilcek, a professor at the university, was co-developer of the anti-inflammatory drug Remicade.

In addition, three current or former university leaders have given $10 million or more during the past decade to the institutions where they worked, according to the data. Topping that list was Daniel L. Ritchie, former chairman and chief executive of Westinghouse Broadcasting, who gave $27 million worth of property to the University of Denver. He was chancellor from 1989 to 2005.

The late John M. Pfau, founding president of California State University at San Bernardino who led the institution from 1962 to 1982, and his family pledged $12 million.

Nido R. Qubein, president of High Point University since 2005 and chairman of Great Harvest Bread Company, pledged $10 million.

Other facts and figures in the Almanac:

• Two private gifts to education in the past year tied for the largest, at $400 million. The first was a bequest from Howard and Lottie Marcus to American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The San Diego couple were early investors in Berkshire Hathaway. Howard Marcus fled Germany in 1933 as Adolf Hitler took power. Philip H. Knight, a co-founder of Nike, also gave $400 million to Stanford University.
• Foundations were the biggest source of donations for universities, followed closely by alumni.
• Stanford University raised $1.6 billion in private support in fiscal 2015, more than double the amount of any other university, public or private, except Harvard, which raised $1 billion.
• Harvard had the largest endowment in fiscal 2015 — $36 billion — followed by Yale at $26 billion.