HYS CCN(orthwestern Pritzker)
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 12:45 pm
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-n ... story.html
When J.B. Pritzker's great-grandfather immigrated to Chicago in 1881, he had to work his way through law school.
Aiming to help disadvantaged students — like Nicholas J. Pritzker once was — attend a top tier law school, J.B. Pritzker and wife M.K. Pritzker have donated $100 million to Northwestern University's School of Law, officials announced Thursday morning.
According to the school, the donation is the largest single donation to a law school in the country. It will be used, in part, to pay for scholarships and grants. The money also will support the college's social justice, entrepreneurship, and civil and human rights initiatives.
"The purpose of the gift is broadly to help provide scholarships for the best students in the country so that no matter their socio-economic background they can attend Northwestern Law School," said J.B. Pritzker, a venture capitalist with an estimated $3.5 billion in wealth.
"I'm very proud of my family's history of support for initiatives in public service law and business," he said. "This is really a terrific opportunity to honor my ancestors who came to this country, who were immigrants with nothing, who were able to ... succeed as attorneys and business people."
As a result of the donation to the Evanston university, the 156-year-old law school will be renamed Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. In addition, the law school's Entrepreneurship Law Center will be renamed to honor Donald Pritzker, J.B. Pritzker's father, who was co-founder and chief executive of Hyatt Hotels Corp. The law school's complex is on Chicago's Near North Side.
"The Pritzker name is important not only in Chicago, but in the country," University President Morton Schapiro said. "We are thrilled to have their name on our law school. They've been very loyal and staunch supporters of Northwestern, particularly the law school. This gift is great for us."
The Pritzker's donation comes in a year when Northwestern has received three other hefty donations of $100 million, distinguishing the school as a major fundraiser.
Since 2014, Northwestern has received a total of $2.24 billion from donors as part of its "We Will" campaign to raise $3.75 billion for its programs.
On Thursday, officials announced Pritzker's gift, which they said is unique because the money will go directly toward improving the lives of students.
Typically, there are merit and need-based scholarships available for tuition in undergraduate school. But it's more difficult to get through law school without loans.
Leaders at the law school hope that by helping students pay for their degrees, they'll attract a more diverse pool of talent. And when those students graduate, they can select careers in the public sector and work in nontraditional fields because they won't have to worry about coming out of school with a lot of debt.
"This gift is an important game changer for us," said Daniel Rodriguez, the dean of the law school. "It will reduce the problem of student debt, which has an impact on students' life choices and their professional choices. Not a cent of this gift goes to bricks or mortar or buildings. The point of this gift is that all of it goes to the efforts to enhance our educational opportunities for our students."
Besides scholarships, the funding also will help support social justice efforts like the Center on Wrongful Convictions, the Children and Family Justice Center, the Center on International Human Rights and the Environmental Law Center.
Officials also plan to spend some of the money developing programs to train a different kind of lawyer, Rodriguez said. These lawyers can work in technology, medicine, and other career fields — and will be trained to have an entrepreneurial focus.
"I hope that this gift will enhance the reputation of an already prestigious law school so that people see us as even better and hold us in even higher esteem," Rodriguez said. "But I also hope we will earn a reputation for innovation and bold action in a time of rapid change — so that folks in the legal and business community can see how we respond to changes in the current legal and economic environment."
J.B. Pritzker graduated from Northwestern Law in 1993 and has long been a supporter of the school, officials said. He is a life member of the Law Board and has sat on the university's board of trustees since 2004.
His wife is a member of Northwestern's Women's Board and founder of the Evergreen Invitational Foundation.
Pritzker's great-grandfather laid the foundation for the family's legal educations when he graduated from the Illinois College of Law in 1900 and went on to build a successful practice. Nicholas J. Pritzker emigrated from Russia and shined shoes and sold newspapers to pay for his education. As an attorney, he later sent his own sons to law school.
The Pritzker family has long been one of the wealthiest clans in Chicago, and its members have established themselves as major philanthropists. Family members also sit on the boards of many educational and cultural institutions, and several iconic attractions in the city bear the family's name, including the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park and the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago.
When J.B. Pritzker's great-grandfather immigrated to Chicago in 1881, he had to work his way through law school.
Aiming to help disadvantaged students — like Nicholas J. Pritzker once was — attend a top tier law school, J.B. Pritzker and wife M.K. Pritzker have donated $100 million to Northwestern University's School of Law, officials announced Thursday morning.
According to the school, the donation is the largest single donation to a law school in the country. It will be used, in part, to pay for scholarships and grants. The money also will support the college's social justice, entrepreneurship, and civil and human rights initiatives.
"The purpose of the gift is broadly to help provide scholarships for the best students in the country so that no matter their socio-economic background they can attend Northwestern Law School," said J.B. Pritzker, a venture capitalist with an estimated $3.5 billion in wealth.
"I'm very proud of my family's history of support for initiatives in public service law and business," he said. "This is really a terrific opportunity to honor my ancestors who came to this country, who were immigrants with nothing, who were able to ... succeed as attorneys and business people."
As a result of the donation to the Evanston university, the 156-year-old law school will be renamed Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. In addition, the law school's Entrepreneurship Law Center will be renamed to honor Donald Pritzker, J.B. Pritzker's father, who was co-founder and chief executive of Hyatt Hotels Corp. The law school's complex is on Chicago's Near North Side.
"The Pritzker name is important not only in Chicago, but in the country," University President Morton Schapiro said. "We are thrilled to have their name on our law school. They've been very loyal and staunch supporters of Northwestern, particularly the law school. This gift is great for us."
The Pritzker's donation comes in a year when Northwestern has received three other hefty donations of $100 million, distinguishing the school as a major fundraiser.
Since 2014, Northwestern has received a total of $2.24 billion from donors as part of its "We Will" campaign to raise $3.75 billion for its programs.
On Thursday, officials announced Pritzker's gift, which they said is unique because the money will go directly toward improving the lives of students.
Typically, there are merit and need-based scholarships available for tuition in undergraduate school. But it's more difficult to get through law school without loans.
Leaders at the law school hope that by helping students pay for their degrees, they'll attract a more diverse pool of talent. And when those students graduate, they can select careers in the public sector and work in nontraditional fields because they won't have to worry about coming out of school with a lot of debt.
"This gift is an important game changer for us," said Daniel Rodriguez, the dean of the law school. "It will reduce the problem of student debt, which has an impact on students' life choices and their professional choices. Not a cent of this gift goes to bricks or mortar or buildings. The point of this gift is that all of it goes to the efforts to enhance our educational opportunities for our students."
Besides scholarships, the funding also will help support social justice efforts like the Center on Wrongful Convictions, the Children and Family Justice Center, the Center on International Human Rights and the Environmental Law Center.
Officials also plan to spend some of the money developing programs to train a different kind of lawyer, Rodriguez said. These lawyers can work in technology, medicine, and other career fields — and will be trained to have an entrepreneurial focus.
"I hope that this gift will enhance the reputation of an already prestigious law school so that people see us as even better and hold us in even higher esteem," Rodriguez said. "But I also hope we will earn a reputation for innovation and bold action in a time of rapid change — so that folks in the legal and business community can see how we respond to changes in the current legal and economic environment."
J.B. Pritzker graduated from Northwestern Law in 1993 and has long been a supporter of the school, officials said. He is a life member of the Law Board and has sat on the university's board of trustees since 2004.
His wife is a member of Northwestern's Women's Board and founder of the Evergreen Invitational Foundation.
Pritzker's great-grandfather laid the foundation for the family's legal educations when he graduated from the Illinois College of Law in 1900 and went on to build a successful practice. Nicholas J. Pritzker emigrated from Russia and shined shoes and sold newspapers to pay for his education. As an attorney, he later sent his own sons to law school.
The Pritzker family has long been one of the wealthiest clans in Chicago, and its members have established themselves as major philanthropists. Family members also sit on the boards of many educational and cultural institutions, and several iconic attractions in the city bear the family's name, including the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park and the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago.
