Brandeis University's most generous benefactor leaves a lasting legacy

• Date: 15 March 2021
• Published date: 15 March 2021
• Author: Dan Verbin

Shapiro, who was an unknowing victim of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, reportedly losing $545 million, used the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation to support many worthy causes, including hospitals, the arts, culture, higher education, and local charitable endeavours in his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts and in Palm Beach, Florida where he and his late wife Ruth also lived.

Examples include Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center, The Museum of Fine Arts, The Boston Symphony Orchestra and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The Shapiros first gave a $10 donation to Brandeis in 1950, two years after its founding. They had no ties to the institute but wanted to support a university founded by the Jewish community so that Jewish students would have a place to study at a time when Jews were excluded from many top colleges. They went on to became the school's greatest donors, gifting more than $72 million to the institution.

"Carl Shapiro's immense generosity has shaped this university in innumerable ways," said Brandeis President Ronald...