1961 Chemical Engineer Wife’s $50,000 Buffett Investment
Donald and Mildred Othmer each invested $25,000 in Warren Buffett’s partnership in 1961. Their holdings later became Berkshire Hathaway shares, and their…
In 1961, chemical engineer Donald Othmer and his wife, Mildred, invested in Warren Buffett’s partnership, turning a pair of $25,000 contributions into Berkshire Hathaway holdings worth more than $750 million by the late 1990s. Their story also carries a caution: a $135 million hospital endowment they left was depleted after the hospital closed.
The couple invested $25,000 each with Buffett, an old friend from Omaha. They lived modestly and rarely discussed their wealth. The investment grew over decades, while their daily lives, according to the source, remained largely unchanged.
Quiet wealth. A lasting legacy.
From engineering and teaching to Berkshire shares
Donald Othmer joined the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn as a chemical engineering instructor in 1932. He led its department from 1937 to 1961, became a distinguished professor in 1961 and was named professor emeritus in 1976. The source says he never officially retired.
Before his academic career, Othmer worked at Eastman Kodak. He contributed to more than 40 patents and co-edited the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. Mildred had worked as a teacher and as a buyer for her mother’s dress store in Omaha. Both were Omaha natives and had no children.
When Buffett’s partnership dissolved in 1970, the Othmers received about 14,500 Berkshire Hathaway shares at $42 each. Their holdings were then worth about $609,000, according to the source.
Donald died on Nov. 1, 1995, at 91. Berkshire shares traded at just under $30,000 when he died, and his shares sold for about $210 million. Mildred died in April 1998 at 90. By July 1998, Berkshire had reached $77,000 a share; Mildred held 7,500 shares worth $578 million.
Fortune grew; one major gift did not last
The couple’s combined estates exceeded $750 million. The source says reports put the total between $780 million and $800 million. Buffett told The New York Times in 1998 that the Othmers “just rode along,” adding that the investment “never changed their lives.”
That wealth flowed to charitable causes, though reported donation amounts differ. The source cites conflicting figures for gifts to Brooklyn Polytechnic and Planned Parenthood of New York, and reports that the couple directed $135 million to Long Island College Hospital as an endowment intended to be “held in perpetuity.”
Hospital administrators repeatedly drew down the principal with court approval. The hospital eventually closed, and nearly all of the endowment was gone. The outcome shows how a large charitable gift can fail to endure when the institution meant to steward it shuts down.
The source also lists donations to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Chemical Heritage Foundation, the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Omaha Board of Education. It does not provide a single consistent total for all charitable gifts.
Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares traded at $773,717.54 as of 10:48 AM ET on October 9, 2026, according to the source.
Source: finance.yahoo.com
