Emory University is receiving $261.5 million from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, one of the largest financial gifts in the history of higher education, school officials announced Thursday.

Most of the money – $240 million – is intended to replace two large medical buildings and modernize other outpatient services. The rest will be spent on renovating a health services administration building and advancing Emory’s strategic plan.

Robert Woodruff, the late leader of Coca-Cola, was a longtime benefactor of Emory. In 1979, he and his brother George Woodruff gave Emory the then-record sum of $105 million, the first nine-figure gift to an institution of higher education.

Ten years ago, his foundation gave the school $295 million. That gift and the one announced Thursday both rank in the top 10 given to any institution of higher education in the last 40 years, according to a database kept by The Chronicle of Higher Education.