John Paulson Gives Hebrew University a Record $250 Million

Hedge fund manager John Paulson announced a $250 million gift to Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Saturday night, eJewishPhilanthropy reports, the largest donation in the school's 101-year history. The university will rename its Mount Scopus campus in honor of Paulson and his wife Alina as "The Alina and John Paulson Campus, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem." CEOWORLD Magazine reports the gift was announced at the university's Board of Governors gala.

The money will fund four priorities: a new Faculty of Engineering, an expansion of the university's medical and biomedical programs, research on trauma and post-trauma recovery, and a new think tank linking faculty expertise with public needs in Israel and abroad. According to eJewishPhilanthropy, the engineering faculty will pair engineering with computer science, medicine and life sciences. On the medical side, the university plans to scale up a medical education model it has been piloting while building out biomedical research and Israel's long-term health care capacity.

Paulson, who founded the Paulson & Co. hedge fund and chairs the Paulson Family Foundation, said in a statement to eJewishPhilanthropy: "This gift is also meant to show support and international solidarity with Israel." He also made a case to fellow donors, the outlet reports, arguing that a Hebrew University education costs far less than one at a comparable American school while its faculty produces research on par with elite institutions.

This is not Paulson's first gift to the school. eJewishPhilanthropy reports he gave $27 million in 2023 and $19 million earlier this year for science and technology facilities on the Edmond J. Safra Campus, including the Paulson Bar-El Building for Computer Science & Engineering and the John Paulson Building for Electrical Engineering. His earlier gifts to Hebrew University total about $46 million, bringing his overall giving to the school to nearly $300 million. His largest gift anywhere remains the $400 million he gave in 2015 to endow Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Hebrew University President Tamir Sheafer called the gift "an inspiring beacon to friends and leaders across the global Jewish community" in a statement reported by eJewishPhilanthropy. The outlet says the gift ranks as the third-largest individual gift ever made to an Israeli university, behind a $400 million bequest by San Diego philanthropists. Other recent gifts to Israeli institutions include $125 million from Blackstone President Jon Gray and his wife Mindy to Tel Aviv University's medical school last year, $200 million from WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum to Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center earlier this year, and $30 million pledged this week by philanthropist Steven H. Lavin to Hebrew University to train more medical students.