$1 Billion Donation from Rye Resident Will Make Bronx Medical School Tuition Free

Just watch the video.

Rye resident Dr. Ruth Gottesman says to a packed auditorium of medical students and staff “I’m happy to share with you that starting in August this year the Albert Einstein College of Medicine will be tuition free.” The place just erupts.

Dr. Philip Ozuah, president and CEO of Montefiore Einstein, the umbrella organization for Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System, announced on Monday that the Albert Einstein College of Medicine has received a transformational $1 billion dollar gift from Ruth L. Gottesman, Ed.D., chair of the Einstein Board of Trustees and Montefiore Health System board member. The historic gift is the largest made to any medical school in the country and will ensure that no student at Einstein will have to pay tuition again.

“This donation radically revolutionizes our ability to continue attracting students who are committed to our mission, not just those who can afford it. Additionally, it will free up and lift our students, enabling them to pursue projects and ideas that might otherwise be prohibitive. We will be reminded of the legacy this historic gift represents each spring as we send another diverse class of physicians out across the Bronx and around the world to provide compassionate care and transform their communities,” said Dr. Yaron Tomer, the Marilyn and Stanley Katz Dean at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Gottesman is the 93 year old widow of David Sanford “Sandy” Gottesman, billionaire and a longtime friend of Warren Buffett, who passed away in 2022 at the age of 96. In addition to being an early investor and board member of Berkshire Hathaway, Gottesman was a principal at the investment advisory firm First Manhattan that he founded in 1964.

“Each year, well over 100 students enter Albert Einstein College of Medicine in their quest for degrees in medicine and science,” said Gottesman. “They leave as superbly trained scientists and compassionate and knowledgeable physicians, with the expertise to find new ways to prevent diseases and provide the finest health care to communities here in the Bronx and all over the world. I am very thankful to my late husband, Sandy, for leaving these funds in my care, and l feel blessed to be given the great privilege of making this gift to such a worthy cause.” 

“I am profoundly grateful to Dr. Gottesman for this historic and transformational gift. I believe we can change healthcare history when we recognize that access is the path to excellence. With this gift, Dr. Gottesman will fund excellence in perpetuity and secure our foundational mission of advancing human health,” said Philip O. Ozuah, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of Montefiore Einstein.

Dr. Gottesman joined Einstein’s Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC) in 1968. At a time when learning problems were often unrecognized and misdiagnosed, she developed widely used screening, evaluation, and treatment modalities that have helped tens of thousands of children. In 1992, she started the Adult Literacy Program at CERC, the first of its kind, which is still in operation. In 1998, she was named the founding director of the Emily Fisher Landau Center for the Treatment of Learning Disabilities (at CERC). Dr. Gottesman earned her bachelor’s degree at Barnard College and her master’s and doctoral degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is Clinical Professor Emerita of Pediatrics (Developmental Medicine) at Einstein. Over the course of her 55-year association with the College of Medicine, Dr. Gottesman and her late husband David have been generous donors to Einstein’s research and education initiatives.

“Ruth Gottesman’s extraordinary and unprecedented gift gives new meaning to selfless determination and transformational philanthropy. She has always been an inspiration to her fellow board members and the entire Montefiore Einstein community. She will have the lasting gratitude of all who choose to train and learn here,” said Dan Tishman, chair of the Board of Trustees of Montefiore Einstein.

Watch the video of Gottesman sharing the news with students and staff: