Congratulations, Morehouse class of '19: your loans will be paid off

Emily S. Rueb

May 20, 2019 12:01 AM

Addressing Morehouse College’s class of 2019, a man who is richer than Oprah Winfrey made a grand gesture straight out of the television mogul’s playbook.

Congratulations, Morehouse Class of '19: Your Loans Will Be Paid Off

“My family is going to create a grant to eliminate your student loans,” the speaker, Robert F. Smith, said Sunday morning in a commencement address that brought the approximately 400 students in caps and gowns to their feet.

“This is my class,” he said.

In January, Smith, a billionaire, donated $1.5 million to the school to fund student scholarships and a new park on campus. He received an honorary degree from the university at the graduation Sunday.

The new gift he pledged Sunday totals about $40 million, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A private equity titan, Smith founded Vista Equity Partners in 2000. In 2015, after making a fortune in software, he was named the nation’s richest African-American by Forbes.

According to Forbes, Smith’s estimated net worth is $4.4 billion, making him richer than Winfrey, who previously held the title of the wealthiest black person.

Smith studied chemical engineering at Cornell University and finance and marketing at Columbia Business School, according to Vista Equity Partners.

In recent years, Smith has made several high-profile philanthropic gifts. He started the Fund II Foundation, which is focused in part on preserving the African-American experience. He is also the only African-American to sign the Giving Pledge. Cornell named its chemical and biomolecular engineering school for him after he announced a $50 million gift.

In an interview with the The Journal-Constitution, Tonga Releford, whose son Charles Releford III is a member of the Morehouse class of 2019, estimated that her son had about $70,000 in loans.

“I feel like it’s Mother’s Day all over again,” she said.

Emily S. Rueb