Yale Lands $160 Million From Edward Bass, Texas Oil Heir

Edward Bass’s gift will go toward expanding and renovating the university’s Peabody Museum of Natural History. Edward Bass’s gift will go toward expanding and renovating the university’s Peabody Museum of Natural History.

August 28, 2018 | Read Time: 1 minute

The Texas financier Edward Bass gave Yale University $160 million this week to renovate and expand the 152-year-old Peabody Museum of Natural History, the university announced.

Bass is chairman of Fine Line, an investment and venture-capital management firm in Fort Worth, and an heir to an oil fortune. He graduated from Yale in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in administrative science and is no stranger to big giving.

He gave the university $60 million in 2006 for science facilities and last year gave $30 million to the University of Arizona to endow Biosphere 2, a closed ecological system where researchers study environmental change, natural-resource management, and policies to protect ecosystems. He previously endowed the Peabody Museum’s directorship and other programs there and in recent years gave $10 million to build a lecture hall in Yale’s new science building.

Bass tied for the No. 32 spot on the Chronicle’s 2006 Philanthropy 50 list of the top American donors for his gift to Yale that year.

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About the Author

Maria Di Mento

Senior Editor

Maria directs the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual Philanthropy 50, a comprehensive report on America’s most generous donors. She writes about wealthy philanthropists, family and legacy foundations, next generation philanthropy, arts organizations, key trends and insights related to high-net-worth donors, and other topics.