PHILANTHROPY

Ruth Gottesman

Chair of the Board of Trustees

An expert on treating learning disabilities, Ruth Gottesman's distinguished career in the medical profession and as a philanthropist has seen her work span both the academic and commercial sectors, serving as a professor at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Montefiore Health System. In 2024, Gottesman grabbed national headlines when she announced a breathtaking $1 billion donation to the Einstein School — the largest sum in history for a US medical school — providing free tuition to all its students in perpetuity. Just as significant is the fact that the Einstein School is located in The Bronx, the poorest borough in New York City and one of the unhealthiest districts in the United States. In an interview with the New York Times, Gottesman recalled how her philanthropist husband David, who passed away in 2022, had encouraged her to take his stock in Berkshire Hathaway and "do whatever you think is right with it." Said Gottesman: "I wanted to fund students at Einstein so that they would receive free tuition."