Key Takeaways
Bill Ackman and Neri Oxman are donating about $400 million, 10 million Pershing Square shares, to found the Ackman Oxman Institute for brain research and longevity.
The New York institute will focus on brain rehabilitation, recovery, human optimization and longevity, on a planned 680,000-square-foot campus across 3.4 acres.
The gift follows the near-fatal brain hemorrhage of Ackman's 26-year-old daughter Lucy in February, and a second gift of similar or greater size is planned.
Bill Ackman and his wife Neri Oxman are giving about $400 million to launch a new brain research and rehabilitation institute in New York, according to a public securities filing Ackman disclosed on Wednesday. The gift is 10 million shares of his firm, Pershing Square.
The money will fund the Ackman Oxman Institute, a nonprofit built around brain research, rehabilitation, recovery, human optimization and longevity. Ackman said the shares are meant to anchor the institute for the long term, with dividends and any appreciation funding its work, and that a second gift of similar or greater size, not in Pershing Square stock, will follow to cover the near-term runway.
The plan grew out of a family crisis. In February, Ackman's 26-year-old daughter Lucy suffered a massive brain hemorrhage and underwent emergency surgery. Six months later she has regained her cognition and can walk short distances with help, though she remains unable to see. Her recovery, Ackman wrote, is what convinced him the brain can come back from catastrophic injury.
The institute already has a campus. The Pershing Square Foundation bought a new 400,000-square-foot biotech building on Manhattan's West End Avenue at a steep discount, and is under contract for an adjoining building, for a planned 680,000 square feet on 3.4 acres. Ackman said the institute will run its own venture fund to spin out treatments, devices and drugs, and will work on brain-computer interfaces alongside companies like Neuralink and Synchron.
The board includes Regeneron chief executive George Yancopoulos, Nobel laureate James Rothman and inventor Dean Kamen. Mount Sinai, where Lucy was treated, will be a partner, though Ackman said it will not be the only one.
The gift lands in a year when the newsroom has tracked both the promise and the accountability gaps in how big philanthropy and frontier science get funded, from a federal fraud case over how a nonprofit moved donor money to the first working viruses designed by artificial intelligence. The pattern here is hard to ignore, a private fortune trying to do what universities and slow grant cycles have struggled to. Worth watching.
People Also Ask
How much is Bill Ackman donating to the Ackman Oxman Institute?
About $400 million, in the form of 10 million shares of his firm Pershing Square, disclosed in a public securities filing. A second gift of similar or greater size is planned to fund the institute's near-term work.
What is the Ackman Oxman Institute?
A New York nonprofit focused on brain research, rehabilitation, recovery, human optimization and longevity. It is built to run its own venture fund and spin out treatments, devices and drugs.
Why did Bill Ackman start a brain research institute?
His 26-year-old daughter Lucy suffered a massive brain hemorrhage in February 2026 and survived. Her ongoing recovery convinced Ackman to fund brain research and rehabilitation at scale.
Where will the Ackman Oxman Institute be located?
On a planned 680,000-square-foot campus across 3.4 acres on Manhattan's West End Avenue, anchored by a biotech building the Pershing Square Foundation bought at a discount.