By Associated Press - Sunday, January 31, 2021

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Tulane University says a $5 million gift will be used to help increase scientific understanding of aging and longevity.

The gift is from Tulane alumnus Richard M. Lerner. It will be used to establish the Lawrence E. Lerner Presidential Chair Endowed Fund, named for the donor’s father.

Tulane says in a news release that Lerner requested that the initial chair holder be a scholar whose research focuses on gerontology or related disciplines. He was motivated by experiences with his father’s aging process.

“It’s great that people are living longer thanks to advances in science and medicine, but from experience, many of us know that those additional years are not always good ones,” Lerner said in a Tulane news release. “In simplest terms, I hope that new and innovative research in the field of aging makes it possible for our loved ones to derive some pleasure from those incremental years. If not, what is the point?”

This is the eighth presidential chair established at Tulane. The university release said presidential chairs are among Tulane President Michael Fitts’ top priorities as he seeks to attract some of the world’s most renowned faculty members in a variety of areas.

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