Northwestern University in Evanston is pictured on Nov. 13, 2020. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)
Northwestern University announced Wednesday that it has received the school’s largest gift ever thanks to Chicago billionaires Patrick and Shirley Ryan.
The $480 million gift is part of the school’s “We Will” campaign that has raised more than $6 billion from more than 170,000 donors, according to a news release. Launched in 2014 to achieve a fundraising goal of $3.75 billion from at least 141,000 donors, the initiative ended June 30.
“This is an extraordinary moment for Northwestern,” President Morton Schapiro said in a statement. “Thousands of our alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends came together to support the astonishing trajectory of Northwestern and increase our impact on the world, and I am truly humbled by their generosity.”
The Ryan family’s gift will support areas in biomedical, economics and business research at Northwestern. There will be several areas of the Feinberg School of Medicine impacted, including the Ryan Family Digital Health Fund, a new institute for neuroscience and the Ryan Family Center for Global Primary Care. Additionally, the gift will benefit the Kellogg School of Management and help redevelop Ryan Field.
Exact details of the Ryan Field renovation were not released, but the school describes the project as an effort to turn the football facility “into a best-in-class stadium that will be dramatically more accessible.”
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The Ryan family previously helped fund a 1997 renovation of the 95-year-old stadium that included renaming it Ryan Field from Dyche Stadium.
“I am immensely grateful to Pat and Shirley Ryan and their family for the extraordinary generosity and leadership over many years, which has propelled Northwestern to new heights as a leading research university,” Schapiro said in a news release.
Patrick and Shirley Ryan are both Northwestern graduates and prominent donors to a number of causes and institutions around the Chicago area.
Patrick Ryan founded and was CEO of Aon Corporation for decades. He is currently chairman and CEO of Ryan Specialty Group Holdings Inc. Shirley Ryan has been recognized for her work in advancing work around the capacity of the infant brain to learn motor skills, according to the school. She serves on the board of directors of the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, which bears her name.
Fans arrive for a game between Northwestern and Michigan State at Ryan Field in Evanston on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)
“Advancing scientific discovery, especially in human health, has been a longstanding priority for our family,” Shirley Ryan said in a statement. “Northwestern’s world-class scientists and innovative and interdisciplinary approach to research have tremendous potential to advance treatments and tools that can improve the lives of people in the U.S. and globally.”
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Other major donors to the overall fundraising initiative include Roberta Buffett Elliott, Louis A. Simpson and Kimberly K. Querrey and the Pritzker Family Foundation.
According to the university, about 84% of the contributions to the “We Will” Campaign were $1,000 or less and about 58% of donations were $100 or less.
The funds raised from the campaign will be used across a range of student programs and initiatives at the university, according to the school. Examples of the campaign’s impact include financial aid, international student scholarships, student research grounds and new facilities on the Evanston and Chicago campuses.
Emily Little is a freelance reporter.
Ryan family’s record-setting $480 million Northwestern University donation will fund medical research, stadium renovation
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