Henry L. Moses was a lawyer, financier, and philanthropist who founded the firm Moses & Singer in 1919. This is where he developed the bulk of his wealth. He began his interest in philanthropy by serving, from 1923 until his death, on the Board of Trustees of Montefiore Hospital, and he led the movement towards better patient care and ambulatory services. After Henry's death, his wife since 1914, Lucy G. Moses, established the Henry L. Moses Research Institute at the hospital. Henry died in 1961; Lucy passed away in 1990 at the age of 103.
Henry and Lucy focused their philanthropy on Jewish causes generally, but their topical areas of interest were the Sciences first and foremost, higher education, and a particular interest in people with disabilities. NYU's Center for Students with Disabilities was endowed by them and bears their name. They were also tightly linked to social justice causes such as the NYC Legal Aid Society and the NAACP. There is still a Moses foundation in New York City and its mission is to support the above mentioned causes.
The Moses Chair was the fourth endowed professorship in the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the first in the Computer Science Department.