$4M Legacy Gift Made to Support Rady School Students

A $4 million legacy gift from Nobel laureate and adjunct professor Harry Markowitz and his wife Barbara will establish an Endowed Fellowship to support UC San Diego Rady School of Management students. Through the newly developed Markowitz Fellows Program, the Rady School hopes to attract and support outstanding students in mathematics, finance, and operations research.

In a recent press release, UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla said, “In the past five decades, UC San Diego has been privileged to have 16 Nobel laureates, including Harry Markowitz, teach our students. Now we thank this outstanding professor and his wife for committing to generously endow approximately $4 million as a legacy gift to ensure support of Rady School students for generations to come.”

Harry Markowitz has been a professor at the Rady School since its early days. In 2016, in honor of his long service, the Dr. Harry M. Markowitz Endowed Chair in Finance and Investing was established. Nearly 90-years-old now, he still teaches portfolio theory, conducts research, consults with clients, and writes textbooks including Risk-Return Analysis: The Theory and Practice of Rational Investing.

Throughout his career, Markowitz has been the recipient of many prestigious awards and medals, some of which he will also donate to the Rady School. The Rady School will receive Markowitz’s 1990 medal from the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, as well as his 2013 Wharton-Jacobs Levy Prize. These and his other medals and gifts are all contributions to the Campaign for UC San Diego.

“We are indeed fortunate to not only have one of the world’s most renowned financial economists on our faculty, but also to be able to call Harry Markowitz a friend,” said Rady School of Management Dean Robert S. Sullivan. “His continued quest for knowledge and impact is an inspiration to all.”

The $4 million gift from the 1990 Nobel Prize in Economics winner is part of the $2 billion comprehensive fundraising effort titled The Campaign for UC San Diego, which seeks to transform the student experience and campus.

regions: San Diego

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