New York ? A microbiology professor who fled the Nazis as a child, then made a fortune inventing a drug for rheumatoid arthritis plans to give the New York University School of Medicine a $105 million donation.

Dr. Jan T. Vilcek, who has been on the faculty at NYU’s medical school for 40 years, said he felt grateful to the institution for nurturing his research.

“NYU gave me a faculty position when I came to this country. I was 31 and had no prior experience anywhere outside communist Czechoslovakia,” Vilcek said in a telephone interview Friday. “It was a courageous thing for NYU to do.”

The gift, which the medical school said is the largest it has ever received, will endow professorships and fellowships, support research and faculty recruiting efforts, improve facilities and enhance programs in basic sciences.

The donation will consist of royalties Vilcek has earned from the sale of Remicade, an anti-inflammatory agent.