Eugene Lang speaking with students in 2009. (Credit: Swarthmore College)
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By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A distinguished alum has given Swarthmore College the largest gift in the school’s history.
The gift is from philanthropist Eugene Lang, Swarthmore Class of 1938 and an entrepreneur who has paid for the college education of 15,000 students through his “I Have A Dream” Foundation.
Swarthmore president Rebecca Chopp was floored when she learned of the $50 million dollar donation. “My jaw most certainly dropped. I almost fell off the sofa in his office when he told me.”
The donation will be used to upgrade Swarthmore’s engineering and science facilities. The 93-year-old Lang says you never stop learning. “I’m very fortunate to be able to have enough money to be able to get things started. But nobody controls progress, or does this alone.”
Fifty million dollars is the largest single donation to Swarthmore. The previous record was Lang’s $30 million gift in 1996.
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