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Mailman School Participates in Buffett-Gates Town Hall Discussion in New York City
On Monday, June 26, Dr. Allan Rosenfield, along with 22 students from the Mailman School, joined a select group at the New York Public Library to participate in a town hall discussion with Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and Bill and Melinda Gates, co-chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Buffett's decision to transfer the bulk of his $40 billion fortune to the Gates Foundation.
At the library, Buffett signed and presented letters of intent to the Gates Foundation, as well as to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the foundation of his late wife, Susie, and to those founded by his two sons, Howard and Peter, and his daughter, Susie.
Through what is the largest act of charitable giving in U.S. history, Buffett designated roughly 10 million shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class B stock to be transferred to the Gates Foundation over several years in support of their efforts to eradicate diseases such as AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
Present at the event were representatives from other foundations, educators, students, and philanthropists such as David Rockefeller. In a question-and-answer session, several participants praised Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates for their commitment to effecting real change in the world.
As the Q & A session drew to a close, Dr. Rosenfield was called upon to speak. After congratulating both parties for their extraordinary work and the outstanding example they are setting in the field of philanthropy, Dr. Rosenfield spoke about the importance of global and public health, and his shared vision of a world in which a vaccine for AIDS exists and inequities within the healthcare and education systems are eradicated.
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