Robert F. Smith is one of the richest men in the world. He founded the investment firm Vista Equity Partners, one of the best-performing private equity firms. Wikipedia says Mr. Smith grew up middle-class. He attended two very prestigious schools, Cornell and Columbia School of Business but his biggest asset was his business acumen. Why am I giving you a brief history of the successful business man? Because he did something this weekend that changed the course of close to 400 men’s lives. While giving the commencement address at the all-male, historically black university, Morehouse College, over the weekend, Mr. Smith changed the lives of the 2019 graduating class.
Billionaire Robert F. Smith, who received an honorary doctorate at Morehouse College’s Sunday morning graduation exercises, had already announced a $1.5 million gift to the school.
But during his remarks in front of the nearly 400 graduating seniors, the technology investor and philanthropist surprised nearly everyone by announcing that his family was providing a grant to eliminate the student debt of the entire Class of 2019.
“This is my class,” he said, “and I know my class will pay this forward.”
The announcement came as a surprise to Smith’s staff and to the staff at Morehouse, and elicited the biggest cheers of the morning.
The gift has been estimated to be worth up to $40 million.
Aileen Dodd, spokesperson for Morehouse College, said the gift is the biggest single gift in the school’s history.
In his commencement address, Smith said being on the bus toward success isn’t enough. “You want to own it, you want to drive it, and you want to pick up as many people as you can along the way.”
He charged the Class of 2019 with doing its part to improve the lives of black America. “I’m putting some fuel into your bus,“ he said. “I’m counting on you to load up that bus.”
[From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
This is the definition of putting your money where your mouth is. Mr. Smith told these accomplished young men to pay it forward and make the world better for black Americans. And then he made it possible for them by eliminating all of their school debt. This isn’t the first time he’s done something like this either. In 2016, Smith donated $50M to Cornell to support “bimolecular engineering and African-American and female students at Cornell University’s College of Engineering.”
I have not heard the full speech, just excerpts, but between the way he phrased it and the surprise of his own staff, part of me wonders if he thought of this on the spot. I know the joke has been made repeatedly but seriously, I would not want to be next year’s commencement speaker.
Here is a clip of his announcement. You can hear how it takes the class a moment to figure it out. The applause starts strong but grows as the realization comes over them. I imagine it will take the graduates a little while for this to sink in:
Angela Basset was the other commencement speaker at the graduation.
Embed from Getty Images
Photo credit: Instagram and Getty Images
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