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Stephen M. Ross

Stephen M. Ross (born May 10, 1940, in Detroit, Michigan) is an American real estate developer, philanthropist and sports team owner. Ross is the chairman and majority owner of The Related Companies, a global real estate development firm he founded in 1972. Related is best known for developing the Time Warner Center, where Ross currently lives and works, as well as its new Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project. According to Forbes magazine, Ross has a net worth of $4.8 billion. Ross is also the principal owner of the Miami Dolphins and Sun Life Stadium.Ross is a major benefactor of his alma mater, the University of Michigan; with lifetime contributions of $313 million to the university, he is the largest donor in university history. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Ross's higher education gifts rank behind only billionaire New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose recent $350 million contribution to Johns Hopkins University increased his lifetime total to $1.1 billion. The University of Michigan renamed its business school, the Ross School of Business, in Ross's honor in 2004, after Ross made a $100 million gift to fund a new business-school building. In September 2013, Ross donated $200 million to the University ($100 million to the Business School and $100 million to Michigan athletics), the largest single gift in the history of the university; the University of Michigan announced plans to rename the university's athletics campus in his honor. Ross also gave $5 million to the athletic department's academic center and $1 million to endow a professorship in real estate at the Ross School of Business.