A former professor of Medicine Albert Einstein School has donated $1 billion to this New York institution of higher learning, the largest gift of its kind ever given in the U.S., to help pay the tuition of all its students, the school announced today.

Ruth Gottesman she donated this amount from the estate of her late husband David “Sandy” Gottesman, a Wall Street broker and Berkshire Hathaway investor, who died in September 2022.

“I am very grateful to my late husband Sandy for leaving this money in my care and I feel blessed to have this very great privilege to offer this gift to such a noble cause“, she emphasized in a joint statement with the school.

Gottesman has worked at the medical school since 1968. During her time there, she conducted research on childhood learning disabilities while creating a writing and reading program for adults.

He is currently chairman of Einstein’s Board of Trustees and serves on the board of Montefiore Health System, the hospital school’s affiliate.

With her donation, the spring semester 2024 tuition of all current students will be reimbursed and all future students will attend their studies tuition-free. Tuition at the school is about $60,000 a year, leaving many students with more than $200,000 in debt after they graduate.

“This transformative gift is intended to attract a group of talented and diverse individuals who otherwise may not have had the means to pursue medical education“, the school emphasizes, adding that this is the largest gift offered to a medical school in the country.

The school, in which about 1,1000 students studys, is located in the Bronx.