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Hong Kong Developer's Family Gives Harvard Public Health School $350 Million

BOSTON (AP) – Harvard's public health school has received a $350 million gift — the largest single donation in the history of the university — to bolster research into major global health threats.

Harvard president Drew Faust on Monday officially announced the gift from a philanthropic foundation established by the family of T.H. Chan, a Hong Kong real estate developer who died in 1986.

Faust called the gift from the Morningside Foundation "transformative," and said it would help students and faculty tackle some of the world's most difficult and urgent public health challenges.

The 101-year-old school will be renamed the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Among those attending the announcement were Chan's widow and son, including Dr. Gerald Chan, who earned his master's degree from the school in the 1970s.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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