January 30, 2012; Source: San Jose Mercury News | The longtime editor in chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, Helen Gurley-Brown—now (gasp!) 89—has given $30 million to establish the Brown Institute, which will provide funding for advances in technology to support a free and robust press.

Stanford University will receive $12 million to be used for fellowships and for grants to researchers in multimedia technology. To Columbia will go $18 million, $6 million of which will be used to establish a high-tech newsroom at its Graduate School of Journalism.

The grant is being made in honor of Gurley-Brown’s husband, David Brown, who was a graduate of both institutions. –Ruth McCambridge