Michigan Ag Connection - Ross Gives Additional $50M to Total Lifetime Giving to $378M

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Ross Gives Additional $50M to Total Lifetime Giving to $378M
Michigan Ag Connection - 09/25/2017

Real estate developer and alumnus Stephen M. Ross donated an additional $50 million to the University of Michigan, bringing his total lifetime giving to $378 million.

The majority of the new gift will support career development programs for students, innovative action-based learning experiences such as student-run investment funds and new business ventures, and resources for attracting and developing junior faculty.

Ross continues to be the single largest donor to the university. He also chairs U-M's Victors for Michigan Campaign, which kicked off in fall 2013. The campaign has raised more than $4 billion to date and, with this Ross gift, the campaign has surpassed its aggressive $1 billion goal for student support.

His previous donations have not only helped the business school become one of the best in the world, but his support has physically transformed the landscape of the university--adding the signature terra cotta look of the Ross School campus, designed to foster collaboration and action-based learning in business education, as well as the sturdy brick of the Stephen M. Ross Athletic Campus buildings, a home for all U-M student-athletes, set for completion in 2018.

"It gives me enormous joy to continue to give back to the University of Michigan, an institution that had such a profound impact on my life," Ross said. "I am extremely proud of the physical transformation we have achieved at the business school, creating modern, new facilities and places students and faculty and future leaders can thrive.

"It has become a world-class center of innovation and a magnet for attracting the best and the brightest students and faculty, and these new initiatives will even further enhance those efforts."

Ross is a philanthropist and chairman and founder of Related Companies, one of the world's most prominent private real estate developers. Related Companies is best known for the development of Time Warner Center in New York City and the 28-acre Hudson Yards development on Manhattan's west side, and is also one of the largest owners of affordable housing nationally. Ross is also the owner of the Miami Dolphins.

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