Eugene Lang

Lang, a 1938 graduate of Swarthmore, donated $50 million to the liberal arts college in December 2012, the largest gift in its nearly 150-year history - topping only the previous gift he made to Swarthmore of $30 million in 1997. Lang made his fortune by founding REFAC Technology Development Corp. in New York, which negotiates international manufacturing licenses and joint ventures. He became nationally known for his 1981 impromptu pledge at his elementary school in East Harlem to fund a college education for the students if they graduated from high school. He later formed the national "I Have a Dream Foundation," which connects donors and mentors with classes of students and has resulted in more than 15,000 students going on to college. As of 2006, he had given away $150 million - more than half of his net worth, according to an article in USA Today. As of 1997, $50 million of that had gone to Swarthmore. "I really don't keep score. That's not important," said Lang, who also has a master's degree from Columbia University. He added in a statement: "I don't want to be a statistical hero." Eugene Michael Lang was born on March 16, 1919, and grew up in a $12-a-month railroad apartment on East 83d Street in Manhattan. His father, Daniel Lang, having been found guilty of distributing subversive literature as a socialist in Hungary, escaped in 1911 to the United States and took a job at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. When World War II broke out, Mr. Lang was rejected for military service because of his flat feet. He took a job at Heli-Coil, an aircraft parts factory in Long Island City, Queens, and rose to a managerial position and later became a part-owner. In 1949, he expanded Heli-Coil to make precision wire inserts, industrial fastenings and tools. It later became a division of Stanley Black & Decker. Much of his fortune stemmed from the Refac Technology Development Corporation, a public company he founded in 1952 that specialized in the licensing of patents and financing high-tech ventures. Mr. Lang married Theresa Volmar in 1946. In 1997, he was the commencement speaker when, at age 79, she graduated from Marymount Manhattan College. She died in 2008. In addition to his daughter Jane, Mr. Lang is survived by two sons, David and the film and stage actor Stephen Lang; eight grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.