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Profiles in generosity

Avinash Dixit and Toni Adlerman

Princeton, New Jersey
February 18, 2015


Avinash earned a bachelor’s from Bombay University in mathematics and physics in 1963; a bachelor’s from the University of Cambridge in mathematics in 1965; and a PhD from MIT in economics in 1968. He was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Warwick in England and taught for 30 years at Princeton University, where he is now a professor emeritus. An expert in game theory, he has written 10 books, including The Art of Strategy, which he coauthored with Barry Nalebuff ’80. He and his companion, Toni, enjoy reading, dining, and travel. “The wonderful thing about retirement is you can do all the things you love to do,” he says.

Avinash: “I established two unitrusts at MIT to support graduate fellowships in the Department of Economics. The trusts are invested in the endowment, and I know the money is well used because it’s in MIT’s own interest to put it to the best use. And MIT will end up better off than if I invested the money myself and left it in my will. I benefit from MIT’s investment strategy, handled by established experts with a good track record, without paying high fees, and I get an income stream for life, tax benefits, and additional diversification. It’s a win-win. I support economics at MIT because it is where I learned from Nobel laureates Robert Solow and Paul Samuelson and other great teachers and fellow students, and it’s where I acquired the knowledge, interests, and skills that served me so well for my 40-year career. I benefited from my own graduate education at MIT and want to help students get similar benefits in the years to come.”

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

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