WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Yale University has received a 50 million U.S. gift to advance the University's collaborations with China in critical areas, Yale President Richard C. Levin said Thursday.

Maurice R. ("Hank") Greenberg, through his family foundation, and The Starr Foundation are each donating 25 million dollars to Yale to create the Maurice R. Greenberg Yale-China Initiative, said the University in a statement.

"We are pleased that the strong connections Yale has forged with China have given Hank Greenberg and The Starr Foundation confidence that the University will be a continuing force for positive intellectual, social, and economic change in China and around the world," Levin said.

"Hank Greenberg's own involvement as a business pioneer in China exemplifies the value of actively engaging that nation's people and institutions," he added.

Maurice R. Greenberg, the retired Chairman and CEO of American International Group, Inc., is now the Chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr & Company. Greenberg built AIG into the largest insurance company in the world. Greenberg is the former Chairman of the Asia Society and is Honorary Vice Chairman and Director of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Starr Foundation was established in 1955 by Cornelius Vander Starr. Mr. Starr, a pioneer of globalization, set up his first insurance venture in Shanghai in 1919. He died in 1968 at the age of 76, leaving his estate to the Foundation. Enditem