The family foundation of Aramark Corp. CEO and chairman Joseph Neubauer, wife Jeanette, son Lawrence and daughter Melissa Anderson has pledged $25 million to their alma mater, the University of Chicago, to establish "an innovative program to attract some of the nation's most outstanding young faculty." Faculty hired with the money will be called "Neubauer Family Assistant Professors."
The Neubauers, who have a home in Rittenhouse Square, in Philadelphia, have been active and robust donors to the university and what it calls its "Chicago Initiative," a fund-raising campaign. The school said the Neubauer Family Foundation now has given $36 million to the school, including making its largest commitment for faculty endowment. Neubauer personally was ranked 15th among 60 biggest donors in the country last year by Slate.com for giving away $114.6 million - granted, some of it went to his own foundation, but who's counting. He and his family have been major donors around Philadelphia, too. They have committed $10 million to the Philadelphia Orchestra and even chipped in $3 million last year to keep Wal-Mart's family from snatching the Thomas Eakins painting "The Gross Clinic." Remember all that next time you order a cafeteria sandwich.
