Luis A. Ubinas began a dream job in January 2008.

By the time he is done with the latest chapter of his life, the ‘House that Sandy Built’ may become shorthand for Cornell Medical College, rather than now-teetering Citigroup.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who carries a gene mutation that predisposes him to Parkinson’s disease, is contributing his DNA and millions of dollars to research into the condition’s genetic basis.

Tom Daschle was also dogged by his connections to EduCap, a nonprofit group specializing in student loans.

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a billionaire, made progress last year on his effort to give away most of his fortune in his lifetime.

A bad year for Wall Street and a bad year for Bernard L. Madoff is turning out to be a bad year for the Harlem Children’s Zone, a successful New York City education reform project.

Billionaire Eli Broad has agreed to bail out the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles with a gift of up to $30 million.

One charity with Madoff connections has managed to emerge unscathed.

Mark C. Pigott, 54, isn’t British, but the millionaire trucking industry executive who lives in Washington state has made it his mission to help English institutions flourish.

After pumping more than a half million dollars into overturning gay marriage in California, Jim Dobson’s Focus on the Family has fallen on hard economic times.

Apparently, a billionaire has the prerogative to change his mind.

While many billionaires watch their portfolios shrivel, and nonprofit organizations worry about their reliance on those portfolios, one well-known philanthropist plans to expand his giving.

A sign in Paul Newman’s Westport Conn. offices famously read: “If I had a plan, I would be screwed.”

Microsoft’s employee No. 105 will soon become the No. 1 employee at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest foundation in the world.

Alberto Ibarguen, CEO of the Knight Foundation and former publisher of the Miami Herald, joined the board of directors of AMR and American Airlines in January. There wasn’t much of a honeymoon.

On the spectrum of freedom, Charles Overby pretty much has the full range covered. He heads the Freedom Forum, which opens its new $450 million Newseum Friday in Washington, D.C. And, in his free time, he’s a director at the Corrections Corporation of America, which runs the nation’s largest privatized prison system.

Noting that as he gets older, he gets more tolerant, the once anti-religious Ted Turner has joined two religious organizations to reduce malaria in Africa.

The Osmond family, once cited by a Mormon elder for setting “the greatest example of missionary work,” has helped raise billions of dollars for children’s hospitals over the years.

Cosmetics magnate Leonard A. Lauder has made the biggest gift the Whitney Museum has ever received.

Some might call it good timing for Anne V. Farrell, who is leaving the Washington Mutual board of directors because she has reached the mandatory retirement age of 72. Washington Mutual, the embattled Seattle lender, is facing lawsuits, more big lending losses, and is the subject of takeover speculation.