Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has announced a $50 million gift from trustee emeritus William Polk Carey, made through the New York City-based W.P. Carey Foundation, to establish a business school that will produce business leaders with a broad, interdisciplinary background.

Carey's gift, the largest ever received by Johns Hopkins in support of business education, launches a $100 million campaign to fund the school, which the university plans to complete with $50 million from other donors. On January 1, the existing School of Professional Studies in Business and Education will become two schools — the Carey Business School and the School of Education. Carey said that establishing a business school at the university founded by his cousin, Johns Hopkins, was the fulfillment of a dream he had had for over fifty years.

"More than a century ago, Johns Hopkins University forever broke the mold in American medical and graduate education, establishing revolutionary new approaches that remain central even today to the preparation of physicians and scholars," said university president William R. Brody. "Bill Carey's generosity makes it possible for Johns Hopkins to break the mold again, this time in the education of our nation's leaders in finance, industry, and entrepreneurship."