Yahoo co-founder, wife donate $75 million to Stanford
02/19/07 -- Bay City News - Stanford University alumnus and Yahoo
co-founder Jerry Yang and his wife have donated $75 million to the
university, with much of the donation being earmarked for construction of a new
environmental studies building, according to the university.
In addition to the $50 million cost of the Environment and Energy Building, $5
million of the donation will be earmarked for construction of a Learning and
Knowledge Center at Stanford's School of Medicine. The remaining $20 million
will be for projects to be determined later.
"We keep coming back to Stanford as a place to give money to, because there's a
uniqueness that Stanford offers donors like us. First of all, you can attract
world-class talent. Secondly, there's very long-term thinking beyond what you
can commercialize tomorrow, beyond what the politics are day-to-day. Number
three, it's still a place about interaction, where the best lawyers, biologists
and engineers are all sitting around drinking coffee together,'' Yang said. "You
can't replace that with technology or video conferencing or flying around in
airplanes. You have to be down the hall where you have the chance of creating
some of the best ideas that will come out in the next century. We feel thrilled,
actually, to be a part of that.''
Yang and his wife Akiko Yamazaki both received their undergraduate degrees from
Stanford in 1990. Yang also received a master's degree from the university and
was working toward a doctorate in 1994 when he co-founded Yahoo with fellow
Stanford student Dave Filo. Yang was elected to the Stanford University Board of
Trustees in 2005.
"Stanford is indeed fortunate to have friends like Jerry Yang and Akiko
Yamazaki,'' Stanford University President John Hennessy said. "Jerry and Akiko
have always been loyal supporters of their alma mater, but this gift is
particularly meaningful for the university as it seeks to address important
issues of environmental sustainability."
