Stony Brook receives $500 million gift

Stony Brook University of the State University of New York today announced a $500 million gift for its endowment, The New York Times reported.

The donation will lead to another $200 million in matching funds from New York State.

The donation and the match are nearly twice the size of the endowment today, about $370 million.

The funds are from tjhe Simons Foundation, which was created in 1994 by Jim Simons, a former Stony Brook math professor who later made billions as a hedge fund manager, and his wife Marilyn Simons, who received her bachelor’s degree and doctorate at Stony Brook.