The president and chief operating officer of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and his wife have pledged $10 million to Duke University, the Associated Press reports.

John and Christy King Mack announced the pledge on Thursday. The gift counts as part of the school's $1.5 billion fundraising campaign.

John Mack is a 1968 Duke graduate and a member of the university's board of trustees. The Macks earmarked $3 million of the pledge to go toward a scholarship fund to help North Carolinians attend the private Durham, N.C. school.

Among the other portions of the pledge, $3.6 million will go for discretionary purposes, with some going to the Duke Annual Fund and the Fuqua School of Business. Another $1.1 million will go to the football program.

During the silent phase of the Campaign for Duke, the Macks donated $1 million in 1996 to create a scholarship fund.

Mack rose through the ranks at Smith Barney and was a key figure in the $10 billion merger with Morgan Stanley in 1997, the AP reports.