Mitsubishi Bank Endows Chair at UC Berkeley Business School

The University of California at Berkeley’s School of Business Administration said Tuesday that it has received a $500,000 gift to endow a chair in international business and finance from Mitsubishi Bank, the first such gift to the school from a Japanese corporation.

Japanese companies have been slow to adopt Western notions of charitable giving, although they previously endowed chairs at such schools as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Berkeley business school also announced receipt of a $500,000 gift from the Walter and Elise Haas Fund of San Francisco toward the endowment of the university’s new Consortium on Competitiveness and Cooperation in the U.S. and Global Economies. Walter Haas Jr. is the former head of Levi Strauss & Co.

“Both gifts recognize and enhance the strength and commitment of the Berkeley business school faculty to deal with the vital issues of global competitiveness, cooperation and management,” said Berkeley Chancellor Ira Michael Heyman.

Osamu Yamada, chairman of Mitsubishi’s Bank of California unit and managing director of Mitsubishi Bank, said: “Berkeley’s reputation in Japan on international issues is unsurpassed. We look forward to a long and happy association.”