While University benefactor George Eastman famously remarked that the progress of the world “depends almost entirely upon education,” Ed Hajim ’58 would go even further.
ENGINEERING STUDENTS: Rob Clark, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (left), says the $30 million gift from fomer chemical engineering major Ed Hajim ’58 will inspire faculty, staff, and students to greater accomplishments.“Education is almost a magic word for me,” Hajim says. “It allows America to be what it is—a place where a person can begin with nothing and in one generation achieve almost anything.”
As the successful businessman and chair of the Board of Trustees talks about the reasons for his commitment of $30 million to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, he highlights the transformational role that education has played in his own life.
“I arrived here 54 years ago with a Naval scholarship, the desire to be an engineer, and that’s about it,” he says. “And after four years at Rochester, I was a Naval officer and a chemical engineer. I got a chance to participate in extracurricular activities, in athletics, and I learned a little bit about people skills, and I learned a little bit about organizational skills. It was a very important experience for me.”
“Even though the school considers itself lucky to receive my gift, I consider myself very lucky to be able to give the gift.”
After graduating in 1958 with a degree in chemical engineering, Hajim earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School in 1964 and began a remarkable investment career. He has held senior positions with the Capital Group, E. F. Hutton, and Lehman Brothers. He was chairman and CEO of Furman Selz, which he sold twice, first to Xerox in 1987 and then to ING Group in 1997. At ING, he was chairman and CEO of ING Aeltus Group. In 2002, he became the chairman and CEO of MLH Capital, which manages investment funds, and also became a director of Morgan Joseph.
Since 1988, he has been a member of the University’s Board of Trustees and was elected chair this spring, succeeding Bob Witmer ’59, who is now chair emeritus along with Bob Goergen ’60.
As an undergraduate, Hajim was a Keidaean and the finance committee chair for the Students’ Association. He was also president of the engineering council, the social chair of his fraternity, and the founder and editor of the University’s first humor magazine, UGH.
Now in his fourth term as a University trustee, he has chaired the Investment Committee, served as the 2000 national reunion cochair, chair of the Campaign for Sports and Recreation, and was a member of the President’s Leadership Council.
His gifts to the University include the Hajim Scholarship Fund, and in 1999 he made a major gift to help fund construction of the Robert B. Goergen Athletic Center that includes the Edmund A. Hajim Alumni Gymnasium. In 2006, he provided funding for the Simon Graduate School of Business’s Summer Business Institute, an immersion program for college juniors, seniors, or recent graduates. And in 2007, he was awarded the Hutchison Medal, the University’s highest alumni award.
Hajim says he’s particularly pleased to help support “exceptionally talented students whose families simply do not have the financial resources to attend a world-class research university like Rochester.”
“The Hajim Scholars will be people who don’t have the means but who have the will and the desire to become engineers, young people who want to contribute to the engineering community and to society. To be able to give some young people the chance to accomplish things that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to do—that’s what it’s all about.”
—Scott Hauser
