Columbia University alumnus snubs alma mater, donates $260M to Israeli university

Metro

By Carl Campanile

A Columbia alumnus snubbed his alma mater and anonymously donated a staggering $260 million of his fortune to one of Israel’s largest universities.

Bar-Ilan, the public research university that is getting the gift, described the philanthropist as a “North American Jew and graduate of Columbia University who was active in World War II.”

It said Monday that the donor sees Bar-Ilan as “best able to undertake the great task of expanding science-based technological resilience in Israel.”

The Columbia alum’s massive donation to a major academic institution in the Jewish state fueled speculation that he was upset with the anti-Israel and antisemitic protests that have engulfed the uptown Ivy League university amid the Israel-Hamas war.

The donor, while remaining anonymous, wanted it known that he was a Columbia graduate.

“It’s a smack in the face of Columbia. It’s just the beginning,” Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime political consultant, pro-Israel activist and rabbi, told The Post.

The announcement was picked up by e-JewishPhilanthropy.com.

The donation also triggered a guessing game as to who the ultra-wealthy donor is. The detail that he served in the Second World War means he would be around 100 years old.

“The donor, a man of broad academic education, believed that the development of Israel’s technological resilience relies primarily on breakthrough science. During his visits to Israel, he recognized the significant impact Bar-Ilan University has made in key areas thanks to its science-based infrastructure and deep connections to all sectors of Israeli society,” Bar-Ilan president Arie Zaban said in a statement announcing the donation.

He said the gift will be invested in the development of “deep tech” sciences and has the potential to “positively influence the future of Israel and humanity.”

Columbia University declined comment.

It’s one of the largest donations to an academic institution since the late hedge fund honcho James Simons and his wife Marilyn Simons donated $500 million last year to Stony Brook University, part of the public SUNY system.

James Simons died last month.