Summers’ Donors of Discontent Hit Harvard Hard

Mark Taborsky, the newly-minted head of Harvard Management, certainly has his work cut out for him. Harvard University’s endowment reportedly will be about $390 million lighter in contributions.

Mark Taborsky, the newly-minted head of Harvard Management, certainly has his work cut out for him. Harvard University’s endowment reportedly will be about $390 million lighter in contributions, as supporters of recently departed President Lawrence Summers have decided to withhold donations until a permanent replacement is found. Summers quit at the end of June following bitter attacks from faculty over his vision for the school. Donella Rapier, Harvard’s director of development, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that “it is quite normal” for this to occur when there is a transition in leadership.” Normal or not, Byron Wien, Pequot Capital Management’s chief investment strategist, said he decided not to give his usual contributions to protest the lack of support Summers received from the school’s trustees. The bulk of the withheld funds consisted of $100 million from media tycoon Mortimer Zuckerman for a neuroscience institute, $100 million from former Harvard governing board member Richard Smith for a new Boston campus, $75 million from David Rockefeller to fund overseas trips for students in financial need, and $115 million for Larry Ellison, chief executive of Oracle.