Harvard University said it received $20 million from KKR & Co. co-CEO Joseph Bae and his wife, novelist Janice Lee, days before alumni will descend on Cambridge for reunion celebrations.
Bae, who this year joined the university’s governing board, and Lee are making the gift to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, according to a Harvard statement Thursday.
“We are thrilled to continue our support of Harvard in the important areas of financial aid and the humanities, both of which are critical to the university’s long-term success as an academic leader in the world,” Bae and Lee said in the statement.
It marks one of the first big announced donations since the university was thrown into tumult in October by the Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent war in Gaza. Multiple big-name donors, including Ken Griffin and Len Blavatnik, have said they’re pausing donations to their alma mater after disagreements over the direction of the university, including how it has handled accusations of antisemitism.
Even before the October attack, donations to the university had declined. Cash gifts to Harvard fell 3% to $1.38 billion in the latest year that ended in June 2023.
Bae and Lee graduated in 1994, with the class celebrating its 30th reunion this weekend. The pair have helped raise $140 million to date, according to Harvard.