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Jorge Paulo Lemann
Source: Business Illinois

Jorge Paulo Lemann

Set up the Fundacao Estudar but also the Lemann Institute for Brazilian Studies at the University of Illinois through a $14 million donation and a professorship named after him at Harvard Business School.

In 1998, he presented CBA with a $100,000 gift to establish the Lemann Scholars program, which provides awards to first-year Brazilian doctoral students in economics. The fund now in excess of $200,000, provides the students with tuition and fees, as well as stipends of up to $11,000 — courtesy of a financier who has no other immediate ties to University of Illinois and is not, for that matter, a U.S. citizen.  In the mid-’90s, he gave a personal donation of $30,000 to build financial resources for Latin American students to Illinois students. At the time the professor suggested that Commerce administration find additional support through alumni and friends in South America — among them Jorge Paulo Lemann, whom Baer met while they were both studying at Harvard. “Out of the blue,” Baer recalled, “the college received a fax from Jorge saying he’d like to make a contribution of $100,000 to benefit Brazilian students.” Equally out of the blue, another fax came on January 7, 1999, with the offer of $100,000 more.