Universities that have invested in tech incubators don’t expect to get a short-term return from their tenant companies, but after reading about the windfall received by Stony Brook University, they may begin hoping for a very long-term philanthropic return from successful incubator graduates that go on to big commercial success. Such is the case of James H. Simons, one of the world’s most successful and wealthiest hedge fund managers, who just handed the school — a part of the State University of New York system — a $60 million check. The 69-year-old billionaire met his wife at Stony Brook and worked as chairman of its math department for five years, then in 1982 launched Renaissance Technologies, the investment company that would ultimately make him one of the world’s richest men and which was incubated on the Stony Brook campus. The $60 million gift — the largest ever given to a public New York State university — will be used to establish a center for geometry and physics research. Go to: The New York Times

Write a comment