Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, has announced a $100 million gift from the Providence-based Warren Alpert Foundation to its medical school.

In recognition of the largest gift in its history, the medical school will be renamed in honor of Alpert, who founded and owns Warren Equities, which sells fuel and groceries under the Xtra Mart brand and is one of the largest privately owned companies in the country. In addition to funding construction of a permanent home for the school, the gift will endow a scholarship program, two new professorships, biomedical research, faculty recruitment, and faculty-designed innovations in medical education.

"The scope of this gift is so significant that it will affect virtually every dimension of the medical school," Brown University president Ruth J. Simmons told the Providence Journal. "A gift of this magnitude invested over time will grow immensely. It will result in...very significant advances in medical education and medical care in the state."