Billionaire Len Blavatnik suspended donations to Harvard University in the wake of
President Claudine Gay’s testimony at the Congressional hearing on antisemitism, following in the footsteps of billionaire Bill Ackman, Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer and his wife Batia, and the Wexner Foundation.

Blavatnik, a Jewish graduate of Harvard Business School whose fortune is estimated at $32 billion, was one of the university’s major donors. Blavatnik’s family foundation donated at least $270 million to Harvard, including a $200 million donation in 2019 to its School of Medicine (HSM) – the largest donation in its history, a $50 million donation in 2013 for the advancement of scientific research and drug development, and a $10 million donation in 2009 for a cancer vaccine research lab and a biomedical incubator.

Blavatnik, born in Ukraine and raised in Russia, emigrated with his family to the US when he was 21 in 1978, later earning a master’s degree in computer science from Columbia University and an MBA from Harvard. He earned his fortune after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s by buying former state assets that were privatized by the government.

According to Calcalist, Blavatnik tripled his fortune in the past 20 years and has correspondingly increased his philanthropy, including sponsoring a Colel Chabad food bank and warehouse in Israel which sends food boxes to thousands of needy families. He’s also the controlling owner of Israel’s Channel 13, Clal Industries, and Nesher Israel Cement Enterprises.

Apart from US citizenship, Blavatnik also has British citizenship. He was listed as the UK’s richest person in the Sunday Times Rich List 2015.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)