The University of Chicago is receiving a $300 million donation for its Graduate School of Business from alumnus David Booth, and renaming it in his honor.
Booth graduated in 1971 and said he built his investment firm, Dimensional Fund Advisors, on the principles he learned from Prof. Eugene Fama. With Fama and other University of Chicago faculty on his board, the firm became a national success.
Booth, his wife Suzanne, and their family have returned the favor, making the largest donation in the University’s history and the largest gift to any business school in the world. The combination of an up-front payment, the income stream, and the equity interest provided by the Booth gift is valued at $300 million, the school said.
The donation was announced Thursday by Ted Snyder, Dean for U of C’s Graduate School of Business, who called Booth a "superb financial thinker.”
In recognition of the gift, the school will be renamed the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
"The very first course I took at the University of Chicago was taught by Eugene Fama, and it was a life-changing event for me," Booth said.
The Graduate School of Business is the nation’s second-oldest business school and was the first in the country to offer an executive master’s degree in business administration.
