John Harvard was a young minister who, upon his death in 1638, left his library and half his estate to a new institution designed to educate New England clergy. At the time, he remarked that his gift was intended "to advance learning and perpetuate it to prosperity; dreading to leave an illiterate ministry."

The University was named for this first and famous benefactor, and has continued to flourish, fueled by the generosity of philanthropists who followed in his footsteps over the years. For instance, Ann Radcliffe, Lady Mowlson created Harvard’s first scholarship fund with a gift in 1643. Since then, many other alumni/ae, their families, and friends of the University have provided for Harvard through planned gifts.

Such gifts have created an environment that has yielded remarkable social changes and scientific breakthroughs over the years. The thrill of those breakthroughs will continue to energize Harvard’s classrooms and laboratories, as it did in 2000 when Harvard scientists synthesized a cancer drug more powerful than any other in use. The most complex molecule ever made on a commercial scale, the drug is being tested on patients for whom no effective chemotherapy exists.

This advancement is only the latest in a rich legacy of great thinkers and remarkable discoveries. In the mid-1800s, surgical anesthesia was introduced at Harvard, and in 1954, surgeons performed the world’s first kidney transplant at the University, launching the era of organ transplantation that continues to evolve today. Harvard is also the birthplace of the world’s first heart pacemaker. And, "Sesame Street", the PBS early-childhood development program, has its historic roots at Harvard.

Seven presidents of the United States—John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Theodore and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Rutherford B. Hayes, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and George W. Bush—were graduates of Harvard, and the University’s faculty has produced nearly 40 Nobel laureates.

Harvard’s planned giving experts can help you change the world by helping you support our students and faculty who will make history.

© 2008 President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved.