Going beyond alma mater, Rappaport boosts Suffolk

With three degrees from Harvard, one would think that philanthropist Jerry Rappaport would concentrate his gifts on the alma mater.

Indeed, Rappaport, chairman of real-estate development firm New Boston Fund Inc., gave $12.35 million over the summer to permanently endow Harvard University's Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. The program, founded in 2000, aims to strengthen connections among area scholars, students, and civic leaders.

But in October, Rappaport's munificence extended to an academic institution he never attended, when his Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation announced a $5 million gift to Suffolk University, the largest in its law school's history.

The gift creates Suffolk Law School's first endowed chair, and its goal is to encourage law students to consider careers in public service and government.

"Suffolk has a very special role in Boston," says Rappaport. "Suffolk students are from here, and they stay here after graduation. If you're concerned about the future of the community, the universities have a commitment to it. Suffolk University has an outstanding record of producing graduates who engage in public policy work in legislatures, courthouses, and city and town halls across New England."

Suffolk president David J. Sargent echoed that feeling when he said, "Suffolk University is deeply committed to encouraging its graduates to embrace a career in public policy and use the skills they acquired at Suffolk for the greater good."

Since the foundation's inception in 1997, Jerry and Phyllis Rappaport have contributed $22 million in support of various initiatives that focus on leadership and innovative thinking in the areas of public policy, health and science, and the arts.

The foundation has provided scholarships to attend Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and to partnerships with Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and McLean Hospital in funding neurological disease and mental illness work. It has also sponsored an annual prize for an artist chosen by the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln.

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