The Friendship With Warren Buffett That Led to Her $1 Billion Donation
At his 60th birthday party in a New York City hotel, David Gottesman was surrounded by a few dozen family members and dear friends, the people close enough to the Wall Street investor to call him Sandy. By his side that night was his wife, Ruth, a pioneering researcher at a Bronx medical school. A highlight of the evening came when the man who would be responsible for much of their wealth raised his glass."May you live till Berkshire splits," toasted Warren Buffett.Ruth Levy grew up in Baltimore as one of four daughters. Her father ran a family business manufacturing straw hats and built a monumental collection of American sheet music, including a rare first edition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Her mother was a homemaker who also worked for the city's welfare department and an adoption agency for Black children. Philanthropy was in Ruth's blood. Before she was born, her parents were among the founders of a scholarship pr