Wilbur C. and Betty Lea Henderson Foundation has gifted $10 million to Drexel University’s Lebow College of Business to establish a dedicated real estate institute, writes Ryan Mulligan for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The gift will create the Wilbur C. Henderson Real Estate Institute in honor of Wilbur Henderson, who died in 2013.

Henderson was a World War II veteran and a 1947 graduate of Drexel. He enjoyed a lengthy and successful career in the Philadelphia-area real estate scene.

The institute is expected to launch next year and will start a national search for a director to lead it.

According to Drexel, the new institute will establish a fund that would provide students with the opportunity to co-invest with the university on projects as well as participate directly in property management and analysis.

This will “prepare students to address a wide array of challenges — from the ramifications of climate change on the design of homes, workplaces, and cities, to the way automation, big data, and remote commerce revolutionize how real estate is bought, sold, managed and used,” said Vibhas Madan, the dean of the Lebow College of Business.

Read more about the gift in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

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