red mccombs

Last week, the world mourned the loss of Steve Jobs to pancreatic cancer. Unlike many other well-known figures, Jobs’ direct and indirect contributions to society are every bit tangible.

He’s the reason the song “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” gets stuck in our head and, consequently, the reason we can pull out a 32-gigabyte testament to human ingenuity to listen to it over and over again.

photo / jrossolPlease don’t stop the music  Retired physician Ernest Butler and his wife Sarah, long-time musical arts connoisseurs, have given The University of Texas’ School of Music quite a gift — $55 million dollars.

This gift is the second-largest that UT has ever received, superseded only by the John A. Jackson estate’s gift of $245 million to the School of Geosciences.

The Butlers’ gift is more than the School of Business got from Red McCombs — $50 million. About two-thirds of the money will go toward scholarships, and the rest will go toward faculty support.