$60 million historic gift to business school from Bruce Jacobs funds new quantitative finance program, elevating his giving to school beyond $80 million
Bruce Jacobs, co-founder of Jacobs Levy Equity Management and one of the early architects of quantitative investing, has made a record-breaking $60 million gift to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, the largest single donation in the school’s history.
The gift will fund the creation of the Dr. Bruce I. Jacobs Master of Science in Quantitative Finance, Wharton’s first new academic degree in 50 years. With this latest contribution, Jacobs’ total giving to the school now exceeds $80 million, placing him among Wharton’s most significant benefactors.
For Jacobs, the gift is deeply personal. A Wharton alumnus, he earned his MBA and PhD at the school before embarking on a career that blended scholarship with practice.
As co-founder of Jacobs Levy Equity Management, he pioneered quantitative strategies that used data, mathematics, and computer models to analyze financial markets—approaches that have since become central to modern investing.
His belief in bridging theory and practice has guided both his professional life and his philanthropy, fueling his determination to ensure that future students gain the kind of rigorous, hands-on training he once sought as a young scholar.
The new degree program, set to launch in the fall of 2026, reflects Jacobs’ vision of how finance is evolving.
Open to Penn undergraduates in mathematics, engineering, economics, and other quantitative fields, the program will add an additional year of study focused on advanced financial theory, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and empirical research.
Students will complete a capstone project rooted in real-world challenges, with guidance from executives at firms like Citadel, Millennium, and Susquehanna. It is, in essence, a curriculum built to prepare students not just for today’s markets but for the future landscape of finance.
Jacobs’ gift continues a long history of generosity to Wharton. In 2009, he and his business partner Ken Levy endowed the Jacobs Levy Equity Management Center for Quantitative Financial Research, which has since become a leading hub for collaboration between academics and industry.
He has also funded fellowships, an endowed professorship, and supported the launch of Wharton’s MBA major in quantitative finance. Taken together, these initiatives have shaped Wharton’s role as a pioneer in the field.
Wharton Dean Erika James called the donation “transformative,” saying it positions the school to lead in the era of data-driven finance.
Penn President J. Larry Jameson echoed her view, praising the gift as an investment in both students and the broader intellectual ecosystem at Penn. The $60 million contribution also eclipses the school’s previous single-gift record: a $50 million donation in 2018 from Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo Global Management.
For Jacobs, whose career began at a time when quantitative finance was still viewed with skepticism by many traditional investors, the gift represents a culmination of his lifelong mission to prove the value of systematic approaches to markets. By investing in the education of future generations, he is not just giving back to the school that helped launch his career—he is ensuring that Wharton remains at the forefront of a discipline he helped define.