Alumnus donates $25 million to Phillips Academy
By Globe Staff
Phillips Academy in Andover announced today that the school had received a $25 million donation, the largest single gift in its 230-year history, from retired Wall Street investor Oscar L. Tang.
Tang is an Andover alumnus and president of the school's Board of Trustees. The gift will help support need-blind admission for students across the economic spectrum, the elite prep school said in a statement. Tang's donation will also be used to jump-start a fund-raising campaign.
Tang, 69, started at Andover as a recent Chinese immigrant with limited English and graduated in 1956. He said the school's "emphasis on knowledge and goodness [was] the platform that launched me into American life."
The latest gift brings Tang's total donations to Andover to $41 million. Some of that has contributed to the school's $800 million endowment, one of the largest in the country among independent schools.
“His profound commitment to faculty and students, and his desire to provide greater access to a Phillips Academy education will have lasting and far-reaching effects,” said Barbara Landis Chase, head of school.
