Skip to Content
Profiles in generosity

Robert and Lisa Reitano

Weston, Massachusetts
April 23, 2014

Bob earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in math from the University of Massachusetts and a PhD in math from MIT in 1976. He was executive vice president and chief investment strategist of John Hancock/Manulife, where he led the Global Investment Strategy Group. He is now professor of the practice in finance at Brandeis University’s International Business School. Lisa earned a bachelor’s degree in math from Wesleyan University and was an actuary at John Hancock/Manulife, where she met Bob. They married in 1987 and have three children. They enjoy hiking, biking, and European travel.

Robert and Lisa Reitano

Bob: “It’s been on my mind for most of my career to make a gift to MIT. I came from a state university, applied to grad school at MIT, and didn’t get in. But I was passionate and determined and went to see Professor Gil Strang, a top mathematician and educator, who was then director of math admissions. He could have said no—no today, no tomorrow. But he encouraged me, and also encouraged me to take an MIT course, then another with the late Professor Alberto Calderón, one of the foremost mathematicians of his time, whom I aspired to work with and who later took me on as a grad student. The MIT environment made me aware of the human potential for greatness. It changed me, motivated me to be my best. Now our gift will support renovation of the math building by naming a prominent classroom to honor Professor Calderón, and it will provide graduate fellowship support in math to honor Professor Strang. Now as an educator myself, I know that it’s not only ability but also passion that is needed to succeed.”

Please consider your own gift to MIT.
For information, contact David Woodruff: 617-253-3990;
daw@mit.edu. Or visit giving.mit.edu.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

OpenAI teases an amazing new generative video model called Sora

The firm is sharing Sora with a small group of safety testers but the rest of us will have to wait to learn more.

Google’s Gemini is now in everything. Here’s how you can try it out.

Gmail, Docs, and more will now come with Gemini baked in. But Europeans will have to wait before they can download the app.

This baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language

A neural network trained on the experiences of a single young child managed to learn one of the core components of language: how to match words to the objects they represent.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.