Former taxi driver pledges $1 million to UB School of Social Work

International financier Leslie Brun used his education to build a $32 billion business. Now the University at Buffalo School of Social Work, where he honed his skills, will receive the benefit of a returned favor with a $1 million gift.

“State schools are generally unrecognized for their accomplishments,” Brun says, “and since I am a product of a state school and proud of my accomplishments, I wanted to give back to the institution that contributed greatly to my success.”

The Haitian-born Brun – who spent about a year after he graduated from UB in 1974 driving a taxicab in New York City – has split his pledge between a scholarship (the Serge D. Valme Fellowship, named in memory of a favorite uncle) and a challenge donation for the school’s research initiatives, issued so that others would “recognize the value of the state educational system and give something back.”

Brun is currently chair and CEO of Hamilton Lane Advisors (Philadelphia), a privately held investment-advisory and money-management firm. Active in community affairs and agencies, particularly those serving the homeless, children, and youth, he received a UB Distinguished Alumni Award in 2000.