Icahn '57 is apparently to be feared

But only if you're in business.

Carl Icahn '57, after whom the lab on campus is named, was recently the subject of a feature in The New York Times. The feature takes a look at his attitudes to business and his interactions with business executives.

While at the University, Icahn was a philosophy major. After graduating, he briefly attended medical school, but became a stockbroker instead.

Icahn — who, like many alumi, turned to the world of investment — is said to have "over the years perfected the art of stirring up trouble for companies and making money — sometimes lots of it — for his investors and himself."

The juiciest details come near the end of the feature where Icahn explains why he sued a good friend (and tennis partner) of his for making a business decision he didn't like.

Funds for the Carl Icahn Lab were donated by the Icahn Family Foundation, which Icahn founded and chairs, in 1999. The building was opened in 2003.