MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, has given out donations worth $2.7 billion to 286 organizations, with Kennedy-King College – a branch of City Colleges of Chicago – receiving $5m, and the University of Illinois-Chicago getting $40 million.
College officials note that this is the largest gifts from a single person in the histories of the colleges.
“Ms. Scott’s extremely generous donation will advance the lives of students who are poised to make great contributions to our city, our state and our world,” said UIC Chancellor Michael D. Amiridis. “Her gift is a vote of confidence in the mission of public higher education and in UIC.”
Kennedy-King College, which serves a largely African-American student body, is considered, in the rating of Forbes magazine, one of the top 10 community colleges in the country as determined by Academic Influence.
“We are dedicated to realizing the full potential of each one of our talented students,” said Kennedy-King College President Greg A. Thomas, while extending the gratitude of the college to Ms. Scott for the gift.
Kennedy-King has a student population of serves nearly 5,000, and offers studies in culinary and hospitality, construction technology and creative arts classes.
MacKenzie Scott got divorced from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, in 2019 and walked away with a 4% stake in Amazon. Forbes estimates that stake to be in the region of $60 billion, and growing.
