Duke partner gets hefty donation

Duke University's partner medical school in Singapore has snagged a donation of $52 million from the estate of a wealthy Singapore businessman, plus $52 million in matching money from the Singapore government.

The $104 million given to the Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School Singapore will enhance research programs on health-care problems of the country and Asia in general, according to a news release Wednesday.

Students will receive joint medical degrees from Duke and the National University of Singapore, and Duke's medical dean, Dr. Sandy Williams, is also dean there. Duke's board of trustees recently approved the joint degree. The first class will enroll in August.

The gift announced Wednesday is from the estate of Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat, a Singapore banker and hotel owner who died in 2004. Before his death, Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at $2.6 billion.