Sidney and Helaine Lerner have generously endowed the new Lerner Value Adjuncts Fund, which will support the program of adjunct professors who teach Applied Value Investing, one of the most sought-after electives offered through the School’s Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing. Upon the retirement of Bruce Greenwald, the Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management and co-director of the Heilbrunn Center, the fund will become known as the Greenwald/Lerner Value Adjuncts Fund.
The Lerners are longtime supporters of Columbia Business School — and the Heilbrunn Center in particular. Helaine is the daughter of late investor and philanthropist Robert Heilbrunn, who endowed the Heilbrunn Center and after whom the Heilbrunn Professorship is named.
“We are delighted to support the incredibly talented adjunct faculty members who teach Applied Value Investing, one of the foundational courses in the Value Investing Program,” said Sid Lerner. “We feel that exposing students to the investing strategy championed by my late father-in-law, Robert Heilbrunn, through the best and brightest practitioners in the field is one of the hallmarks of a Columbia Business School education.”
Greenwald emphasized the importance of having adjunct professors lead the Applied Value Investing course. “Applied Value Investing is all about showing how the principles developed by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd MS ’21 work in the real world. That’s why it’s crucial that real-world practitioners — those who have put these principles into action themselves — teach the course,” he said. “Sid and Helaine’s gift underscores this point and signals their deep belief in the investing approach we espouse.”
“Please join me in thanking the Lerners for their generosity,” Dean Hubbard added. “The School is grateful for Sid and Helaine’s support of the Value Investing Program, and I look forward to seeing where the next generation of value investors takes us.”
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