Barbro Sachs-Osher is the Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 Consul General

Consul (representative)

The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...

 in San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 and a well-known philanthropist

Philanthropy

Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...

, chairman of the Bernard Osher Foundation and of the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation. Together with her husband Bernard Osher

Bernard Osher

Bernard Osher is an American businessman, best known for his work as a philanthropist.-Life and career:A native of Biddeford, Maine, Osher studied at Bowdoin College, where he graduated in 1948...

 she gave the third largest contribution to charity in 2006, according to the online magazine Slate

Slate (magazine)

Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...

. Barbro Osher is also the owner and publisher of Vestkusten, a Swedish-American

Swedish American

Swedish Americans are Americans of Swedish descent, especially the descendants of about 1.2 million immigrants from Sweden during 1885-1915. Most were Lutherans who affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ; some were Methodists...

 newspaper.

Barbro Sachs-Osher graduated from Stockholm University

Stockholm University

Stockholm University is a state university in Stockholm, Sweden. It has over 28,000 students at four faculties, making it one of the largest universities in Scandinavia. The institution is also frequently regarded as one of the top 100 universities in the world...

 with a degree in languages and political science. After working in publishing

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

, and as a copywriter

Copywriting

Copywriting is the use of words and ideas to promote a person, business, opinion or idea. Although the word copy may be applied to any content intended for printing , the term copywriter is generally limited to promotional situations, regardless of the medium...

 in Sweden she moved to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in the 1980s. From 1995 to 1998 she served as the Consul General of Sweden in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

.

Together with her husband since 1980, Bernard Osher

Bernard Osher

Bernard Osher is an American businessman, best known for his work as a philanthropist.-Life and career:A native of Biddeford, Maine, Osher studied at Bowdoin College, where he graduated in 1948...

, she donated 10 million shares of Golden West Financial

Golden West Financial

Golden West Financial was the second largest savings and loan in the United States, operating branches under the name of World Savings Bank.-History:...

 stock

Stock

The capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...

, worth 723.2 million US dollars

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

, to the Bernard Osher Foundation. The money will be used for college scholarship

Scholarship

A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...

s, performing-arts programs, higher-education

Higher education

Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...

 projects, and the support of three medical-education centers, established by earlier donations. The medical-education centers all aim at integrating conventional and alternative approaches to medicine

Alternative medicine

Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....

. They are located at the University of California

University of California

The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...

 at San Francisco School of Medicine, at Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....

, and at Karolinska Institutet

Karolinska Institutet

Karolinska institutet is a medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area, Sweden, and one of Europe's largest medical universities...

 in Stockholm.

In 2006, Barbro Osher was awarded a honorary doctorate

Honorary degree

An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...

 at the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Göteborg University.

Sources

• The Bernard Osher Foundation: Biographies
• The 2006 Slate 60: Donations
• "Frikostig generalkonsul vill inspirera andra" - interview in Dagens Nyheter
  Dagens Nyheter
  is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It has the largest circulation of Swedish morning newspapers, followed by Göteborgs-Posten and Svenska Dagbladet, and is the only morning newspaper that is distributed to subscribers across the whole country. In 2009 DN had a circulation of 316,000, reaching 881...
  
  , August 14, 2005
• Hedersdoktorer vid Konstnärliga fakulteten 2006 - Gothenburg University
  Gothenburg University
  The University of Gothenburg is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg.- Character :The University of Gothenburg is the third-oldest Swedish university, and with 24,900 full-time students it is also among the largest universities in the Nordic countries...
  
  press release