Trustee Seeks Billions for Madoff Investors

The billionaire financier and philanthropist Jeffry M. Picower’s will instructs that the bulk of his estate be used to establish a new charitable foundation to replace the one he and his wife shut down last year due to losses in the Bernard L. Madoff investment fraud. The new foundation's direction? Primarily to benefit medical research. He also left $1-million each to the New York Public Library, the Harlem Children’s Zone, and the Nurse-Family Partnership.

Full text article by Diana B. Henriques is available via The New York Times, 11/9/09.

Couple donates $5 million to UVa Health System

A couple with a record of philanthropy has donated $5 million to fund diabetes research at the University of Virginia Health System. The gift by Paul and Diane Manning comes on top of nearly $3 million they've donated to the university in recent years. Paul Manning, whose two children have diabetes, says he thinks the health system has the best shot in the country of ultimately discovering a cure for Type I diabetes. Manning is the chief executive officer of PBM Products in Gordonsville, which markets and distributes baby formula to more than 20,000 retail locations.

Full-text post by Brandon Shulleeta is available via the Charlottesville Daily Progress, 10/25/09.

U.S. Medical Research Gets $600 Million From Institute

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, one of the world's largest private philanthropies, today announced a $600 million initiative to fund risky but potentially lifesaving medical research by 56 of America's top scientists. By endowing scientists' research over many years, the institute hopes they will make major discoveries in a variety of fields, including genetics and biology.

Full-text article by Philip Rucker is available via the Washington Post, 5.27.08.