04/14/2026
At 93 years old, she inherited a billion dollars — and gave it all away to make medical school free forever.
Her name is Ruth Gottesman.
Her husband, David “Sandy” Gottesman — a legendary financier, early investor in Berkshire Hathaway, and close friend of Warren Buffett — had passed away in 2022 at age 96. For two years, Ruth sat with the immense responsibility of a roughly $1 billion portfolio of Berkshire stock. Sandy’s final words to her had been simple and profound:
“Do whatever you think is right.”
Ruth knew exactly what that meant.
For 55 years, she had poured her life into the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. As a researcher, clinical professor, and longtime chair of the board, she had developed tools to help children with learning disabilities, founded the school’s Adult Literacy Program, and built its Center for the Treatment of Learning Disabilities from the ground up. She had spent decades watching brilliant people get failed by broken systems.
Lately, the broken system she saw most clearly was right in front of her: medical students graduating with over $200,000 in debt. Young doctors who had come to Einstein because they wanted to serve underserved communities — family medicine in the Bronx, primary care in neighborhoods the healthcare system often ignored — were being forced into high-paying specialties just to survive their loans. Idealism was becoming a luxury they couldn’t afford.
Ruth had lost sleep over it for years.
Now, at 93, she had the power to change it.
She sat down with Dr. Philip Ozuah, the school’s president and CEO. When he suggested making tuition free, Ruth didn’t pause. “That’s what makes me very happy about this gift,” she said.
On February 26, 2024, students and faculty gathered in the auditorium with no idea why. The room buzzed with confusion and curiosity.
The dean introduced Ruth Gottesman — 93 years old, a quiet force who had given more than half a century to this institution.
Then came the announcement:
One billion dollars.
Tuition eliminated.
Forever. For every student who would ever attend.
The room erupted. Students wept openly. Strangers embraced. Some sat frozen, trying to process that their crushing debt had just vanished — not just for them, but for every class that would follow.
Ruth spoke softly: “I am very thankful to my late husband, Sandy, for leaving these funds in my care, and I feel blessed to be given the great privilege of making this gift to such a worthy cause.”
She had originally wanted to stay anonymous. It was only when others convinced her the story might inspire more generosity that she agreed to be named. She gave almost no interviews afterward. She wasn’t seeking praise. She simply wanted future doctors to have the same freedom she had always valued: the ability to follow their calling instead of being chained to debt.
Current fourth-year students received reimbursement for the spring 2024 semester. Starting in August 2024, tuition became free in perpetuity — not for one class, not for ten years, but for every student, as long as the school exists.
The impact runs deeper than the money.
Einstein sits in one of the poorest urban areas in America. Its graduates have long been drawn to service; already, a high percentage choose to work in underserved communities. Without the burden of loans, far more will be able to stay there — returning to the Bronx, practicing family medicine, healing the neighborhoods that need them most.
Sandy Gottesman spent a lifetime building wealth through patience and discipline — buying good businesses and holding them for decades. The fortune compounded quietly, year after year.
Ruth spent two years deciding what that compounded wealth was truly for.
She decided it was for the idealistic student who dreams of serving where they’re needed most. For the future doctor from the Bronx who wants to come home and heal it. For every bright mind that debt might have quietly turned away from medicine.
At 93, she proved that one person — at any age — can still redirect the course of an entire system.
Sandy built the billion.
Ruth decided its meaning.
And today, somewhere in the Bronx, a young medical student is studying without the shadow of six-figure debt hanging over them — because a 93-year-old woman chose to make sure they never had to choose between their dreams and their survival.
