Madison-area philanthropists Marv and Jeff Levy pledged $75 million in support of UW–Madison’s new College of Engineering building, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. The gift represents half of the philanthropic benchmark set by the university to fund the project, which also received $197 million in state funding.
The donation is the largest in UW–Madison’s history and follows another multimillion dollar donation, three years ago, from Marv and Jeff Levy to the new Irving and Dorothy Levy College of Letters and Science building at the corner of Park and Johnson streets.
The new building, to be named the Phillip A. Levy Engineering Center, has received overwhelming support from a bipartisan coalition of legislators as well as industry partners seeking additional engineers in their ranks. The project became a central component of UW’s controversial deal with Assembly Speaker Rep. Robin Vos last year after it was initially denied in the state budget in summer 2023.
The Levys’ donation honors the memory of their brother Phil, who passed away in 2021 and earned an English degree from UW–Madison in 1964. The Levy brothers operate their family business, Phillips Distributing Corp.
