More Alma Mater Love: A Quick Look at David Rubenstein's Latest Gift

Spoiler alert. On the heels of January's $10 million gift to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, David Rubenstein's most recent give can't be shoehorned into his self-described bucket of "patriotic giving."

Instead, he turned his attention to his other favorite cadre of philanthropic recipients: his alma maters.

A little over a year after giving $25 million gift to fund a new arts center at Duke University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1970, Rubenstein renewed his commitment to the Chicago Law School's Rubenstein Scholars Program. The $13 million gift will provide nearly 60 full-tuition scholarships for students in the classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Rubenstein earned his law degree from the school in 1973. Not coincidentally, he attended the school thanks to a full-tuition scholarship.

And so the David M. Rubenstein Scholars Program was established in 2010 with an initial gift from its namesake. As the University of Chicago notes, Rubenstein renewed his commitment in 2013 to fund an additional 60 three-year scholarships, ensuring that Rubenstein scholars would account for approximately 10 percent of students at the school. Add it all up and the new gift brings Rubenstein's support for the program to a total of $33 million since 2010.

What's more, the program brings benefits beyond the aid to the scholars, according to Dean Thomas J. Miles, the Clifton R. Musser Professor of Law and Economics. "It has allowed our existing student aid to reach further," he said, "and it has created a virtuous cycle of superb students attracting other superb students and the star faculty who desire to teach them."

I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that there is far more to Rubenstein's philanthropy than patriotic causes and supporting this alma maters. For proof of this, check out my take on Rubenstein's $5 million gift, made back in September, to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to establish the David Rubenstein Enhancement Fund at the American Academy.