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Robert Meyerhoff, a Maryland real-estate developer, and his wife, Jane, promised last year to bequeath their $300 million collection of more than 100 modern art works to Washington’s National Gallery of Art.
Irwin Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of the San Diego wireless company Qualcomm, and his wife, Joan, pledged $110 million to the University of California-San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering, which bears their name.
These Jewish couples were among dozens of philanthropists such as McDonald’s heiress Joan Kroc who gave the most generous donations to charities in 2003, according to a new Chronicle of Philanthropy report.
They also signal the continuation of a longtime trend, where the biggest “mega-gifts” from Jews go to non-Jewish causes.