Two Northeastern University alumni—Richard D’Amore, BA’76, and Alan McKim, MBA’88—have joined forces to make the largest philanthropic investment in the university’s history. As a result of their combined $60 million gift, Northeastern’s College of Business Administration will become the D’Amore-McKim School of Business. It will be the first college or school to be named at Northeastern.

“Once in a generation, history is made in the life of a university. This is one of those moments,” said Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun. “This unprecedented investment will allow our School of Business to build on its strength in global entrepreneurial programs and make a quantum leap forward. It will also galvanize our community and allow us to set our collective sights even higher.”

The Boston Globe reported the news of the gift Wednesday morning.

D’Amore is a co-founder and general partner at North Bridge Venture Partners, a venture capital firm based in Waltham, Mass. McKim is the founder and CEO of Clean Harbors, the nation’s leading provider of environmental, energy and industrial services.

The D’Amore-McKim School of Business will join other top business schools named for visionary benefactors. The record-breaking gift will have profound and lasting impacts across every dimension of business education and research. It is the fourth-largest gift to name a business school in the United States.

“Northeastern has had a huge impact on me—both personally and professionally,” said D’Amore. “I believe in making investments in winning institutions. Northeastern has remarkable momentum today, and under the leadership of President Aoun, I know this is a great investment. I hope that what Alan and I are doing will inspire others to do the same.”

The two alumni met in 2004 when they teamed up to endow a professorship currently held by Professor Daniel McCarthy, a prominent member of the business faculty at Northeastern and a mentor to both D’Amore and McKim.

“As an entrepreneur, I believe in supporting entrepreneurial institutions,” said McKim. “I strongly support the mission and current leadership at Northeastern, and I’m proud to join with Rich and make this investment. It will be an honor to have my name forever associated with this great university.”

Prior to the D’Amore-McKim gift, the largest donation received by Northeastern was $20 million given by Bernard Gordon in 2006, which established the Gordon Engineering Leadership Program and the Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems.

Both D’Amore and McKim grew up in the Boston area and enrolled in Northeastern’s College of Business Administration as undergraduates. Although both dropped out, they were each drawn back to the college that would later become their alma mater and, ultimately, bear their names. D’Amore received an undergraduate business degree and McKim a master’s in business administration.

Over the past five years, D’Amore and McKim have become actively engaged with the university as members of the Board of Trustees. Their prior gifts focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, core values that span colleges and disciplines at Northeastern.

“On behalf of the entire Northeastern University community—and our future students, faculty and alumni—I want to thank Rich and Alan for their vision, support and the trust they’ve placed in us,” added Aoun. “As entrepreneurs, Rich and Alan make investments in high-value propositions. All of us will ensure that the impact of their generosity will be felt for many generations.”

The new gift comes at a time of tremendous momentum for Northeastern. The university has received record-breaking applications in recent years—both in quantity and quality—and external recognitions of the university’s success are at an all-time high. Northeastern has also reached new levels of success in research funding and philanthropic support.

The School of Business has been cited by various business publications for the excellence of its programs in experiential learning, entrepreneurship and international programs. Its combination of global entrepreneurial programs is unmatched in business education at the undergraduate level. The School is under the leadership of a new dean, Hugh Courtney, who began his tenure at Northeastern in July.