WHO GAVE IT: Albert Willner, retired orthopedic surgeon, Del Ray Beach, Fla.
WHO GOT IT: The American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science, New York
HOW MUCH: $20 million, paid within ten years
BY REQUEST: The gift will create an endowment to support scientific education and research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
YOUR NAME HERE: The Willner Family Leadership Institute
HOW IT HAPPENED: Mr. Willner, 87 years old, grew up in Newark, N.J., the son of Polish immigrants. He supported himself through medical school and practiced medicine in New Jersey for 48 years. While on vacation in Jamaica about 30 years ago, Dr. Willner met investor Max Oppenheimer, and the two men became friends. Dr. Willner says he invested $50,000 − his life savings at the time − with Mr. Oppenheimer, who tripled his investment, then lost it all in three years. To make up for this loss, he says, Mr. Oppenheimer invested $250,000 of his own money on his friend's behalf. That effort was more successful. "I made a good living in orthopedics, but I made my money in investing," Dr. Willner says.
He learned of the Weizmann Institute − which focuses on interdisciplinary graduate research in the sciences − about 20 years ago when he met one of its researchers at a party. Dr. Willner says he was impressed that such a small institute was doing cutting-edge research reported in American medical journals
Dr. Willner is making this gift to the institute's American fund-raising arm, which raises about 60% of the donations that the Weizmann Institute receives each year. His gift will create an endowment that will eventually generate between $1 million and $1.5 million annually. It will fund work in three areas: scientific research (including equipment and salaries), scientific education (such as fellowships for graduate students) and the development of lay leaders through seminars and other initiatives that raise the institute's profile.
