Campus & Community

School of Public Health gets endowment from Beals

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Bruce A. Beal and Robert L. Beal, longstanding friends of the School of Public Health (SPH), have endowed the Bruce A. Beal, Robert L. Beal, and Alexander S. Beal Associate Professorship at the School. The professorship is named to honor their father, Alexander S. Beal.

The endowment will initially support the work of the Harvard AIDS Institute by funding its research directorship. Richard Marlink, lecturer in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, has been appointed the Bruce A. Beal, Robert L. Beal, and Alexander S. Beal Research Director of the Harvard AIDS Institute.

Commenting on the endowment, Marlink said, “Bruce and Robert Beal are perhaps unique in their vision to create an endowed faculty position devoted specifically to AIDS research. Bruce, in particular, has been involved with helping and guiding the work of the Harvard AIDS Institute since its creation in 1988, and this experience is evident in the Beals’ knowledge of the investment needed to combat the epidemic.

“The Beals know that, unfortunately, this epidemic is not going away anytime soon and, in fact, will affect generations to come. Just as developing countries need investment in infrastructure to combat AIDS, if Harvard is to stay at the forefront of creating major scientific and medical breakthroughs against the epidemic, we, too, need investment in infrastructure and the long-term commitment of such endowed positions.”

Bruce Beal and Robert Beal ’63, M.B.A. ’65 are partners in the Beal Companies, a real estate development and consulting firm that has been managed by their family for five generations.

Bruce Beal is a member of the Harvard AIDS Institute’s International Advisory Committee and a former member of the SPH’s Visiting Committee. He serves on the Committee on University Resources and the Harvard Art Museums Collections Committee, and is an adviser to Harvard University on real estate matters.

Robert Beal serves on the Committee on University Resources, and is a member of the Dean’s Council of the Divinity School and the Advisory Council of the Taubman Center at the Kennedy School.

In addition to the professorship at SPH, Robert and Bruce Beal have also endowed several funds at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.