James Simons, the former chairman of the SB Mathematics Department, and his wife Marilyn both administer the Stony Brook Foundation. Marilyn attended SB for both undergraduate and doctoral degrees.
You can find the official press release from Stony Brook University here: http://commcgi.cc.stonybrook.edu/am2/publish/General_University_News_2/Stony_Brook_University_Receives_150_Million_Gift_from_Jim_and_Marilyn_Simons_and_the_Simons_Foundation.shtml
SB also secured $35M in matching funding from the state for construction. One of the specific initiatives of the gift is to support the construction of the Medical and Research Translation building, a 250,000 square foot facility at the Health Sciences Center.
The Simons family and the Simons Foundation have provided more than $300M in gifts to SB over the past 20 years to support a number of academic initiatives, including gifts of $25M in 2008 and $60M in 2008.
The gift will also create 35 endowed professorships across academic disciplines over the next five years. Further, a new fund will be created to support graduate students and to support merit-based scholarships for undergraduate students.
The MART, pictured at the left, will focus on research and care for cancer, infectious disease, and neurological disease and disorders, as well as advanced medical imaging. The project will create 1,200 direct and indirect construction jobs and several hundred new specialized research jobs.
Alessandra Malito of the SB Statesman also reported on the gift here: http://www.sbstatesman.com/james-simons-to-donate-150-million-to-sbu786
