Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The University of Rochester received $30 million, the biggest donation in the 158-year history of the school, from Edmund Hajim, a New York investment manager, to fund scholarships in engineering and science.

Hajim, who graduated from Rochester's engineering school in 1958, is the chairman of the university's board of trustees. The institution, in western New York State, issued a statement today that disclosed the gift.

Hajim, 72, is also the chief executive officer of MLH Capital LLC, a New York investment company. He is the former CEO of Furman Selz LLC, an investment company purchased by Amsterdam-based ING Group NV, and a member of the board of Morgan Joseph & Co., a New York investment bank.

The University of Rochester is a private institution with 9,300 students. The school had an endowment of $1.77 billion as of June 30, 2007, according to its Web site. Among its alumni are Stephen Chu, who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1990, and Renee Fleming, the opera soprano.

Hajim also has a master's degree in business administration from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to the Web site of Morgan Joseph.

To contact the reporter on this story: Oliver Staley in New York at ostaley@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 17, 2008 14:06 EDT