DePaul receives record $30 million donation

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Updated: February 15, 2012 9:56AM

DePaul University’s business program is getting a big boost from a $30 million donation from a prominent alumnus. The gift is the largest in the Catholic university’s history, the school announced Wednesday.

The gift comes from South Side native and DePaul alumnus Richard H. Driehaus, a philanthropist and investment manager who earned his undergraduate business degree in 1965 and went on to complete his MBA at the university in 1970.

DePaul plans to use the gift to enhance academic offerings at its century-old College of Commerce, according to a news release on DePaul’s website. The school will rename it the Richard H. Driehaus College of Business in his honor.

“Richard’s extraordinary gift puts us in a position to aggressively recruit and retain top faculty at a time when business schools nationwide face intense competition for the very best scholars,” said Ray Whittington, dean of the College of Business, in the release. “This investment is particularly powerful because it directly impacts teaching and student learning.”

Driehaus previously donated $3.45 million to establish a center in behavioral finance at the Catholic university, which awarded him an honorary doctoral degree in 2002, the release said.

The North Side school serves more than 25,000 graduate and undergraduate students and is the Midwest’s largest private, nonprofit university, according to its website.