What’s an alumnus to do when the university that was the gateway to his entrepreneurial millions was a place of “suffering” where professors “didn’t give a damn about the students”? Moshe Yanai’s answer: Give it millions of dollars to encourage faculty members to be more pleasant.
IBM minces few words when describing the work of Mr. Yanai, who holds one of the computer maker’s prestigious fellowships: “One of the most influential contributors in the history of the data-storage industry. His 30 years of technical expertise and design innovation are legendary.”
Mr. Yanai attributes his success in no small part to the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa, from which he graduated in 1975. Now a multimillionaire, he has given quietly to charities for many years, including to the Technion, the academic incubator of Israel’s high-tech revolution. But memories of his bitter experience there discouraged him from doing anything high profile.