New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is donating $350 million to Johns Hopkins University, the bulk of it to help expand its research on such cross-discipline issues as global health and urban revitalisation, as his lifetime giving to his alma mater soars past $1 billion, the university said.

University officials announced the commitment last evening and said they believe Bloomberg, who amassed his fortune creating the global financial services firm Bloomberg LP, is now the first person to give more than $1 billion to a single American university.

The $350 million commitment is the largest ever to the Baltimore-based university, Johns Hopkins said in a statement.

Most of the latest gift, $250 million, will be part of a larger effort to raise $1 billion to foster cross-disciplinary work on global issues at Johns Hopkins, the university said. Funds initially will be used towards the appointment of faculty for interdisciplinary work on a series of issues that also will include individualised health care delivery, sustainability of water resources and the science of learning.

The remaining $100 million is to be devoted to need-based financial aid for undergraduate students, awarding 2,600 Bloomberg scholarships in the next 10 years, it said.

It added that the latest gift brings Bloomberg’s giving to the institution just more than $1.11 billion in the 49 years since he graduated, including his first gift of $5 in 1965 only a year after he received his bachelor’s degree in engineering from Johns Hopkins.

“Johns Hopkins University has been an important part of my life since I first set foot on campus more than five decades ago,” Bloomberg said in a statement released by the university. “Each dollar I have given has been well-spent improving the institution and, just as importantly, making its education available to students who might otherwise not be able to afford it.”

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