MBK Partners Chairman Michael Byungju Kim, one of South Korea’s richest men, has donated $25 million to his alma mater, Haverford College in Philadelphia. The donation, the largest in the school’s history, will be used to establish the Institute for Ethical Inquiry and Leadership.
Kim, who is now Korea’s second richest man with a total net worth of $9.7 billion, moved to New Jersey with his family at age 11 and earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Haverford in 1985. He later received an MBA from Harvard Business School. “Leadership without ethics is a body without a soul,” Kim said, “and I expect the institute to pioneer new areas of ethics-based leadership in the global community.”
Kim will also take on the role of chairman of the college’s Board of Managers on July 1.
Haverford President Wendy Raymond welcomed the donation, stating, “I am extraordinarily grateful for Michael’s incredible leadership and support of the College.”
Kim’s firm, MBK Partners, is currently the largest private equity firm in Asia, with approximately $30 billion in assets under management, according to Forbes.
Kim’s father-in-law is former South Korean Prime Minister Taejoon Park. Kim and his wife, Kyungah Park, previously donated $10 million to renovate the Oscar L. Tang wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2022, leading to the room being named the Michael B. Kim and Kyung Ah Gallery.
BY BRIAN CHOI, HOONSIK WOO [ichoi@koreadaily.com]
