BOSTON (AP) — The University of Massachusetts has received a $50 million gift from a pair of alumni, the largest gift of any kind in system history, school officials announced Wednesday.

The gift from Robert J. and Donna Manning will be spread among the system’s five campuses, with $15 million earmarked to endow the UMass Boston nursing program, which will become the Robert and Donna Manning College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

How the gift will be distributed at UMass campuses in Amherst, Dartmouth, Lowell and the medical school in Worcester will be announced in the coming months.

Donna Manning’s 35-year career as an oncology nurse inspired the decision to focus the gift on nursing.

Robert Manning is the chair of MFS Investment Management and the longtime chair of the UMass Board of Trustees.

The Swampscott residents both earned undergraduate degrees from UMass Lowell.

“Donna and I are at a point in our lives where we want to make a real difference, and this was the best way to do that, because we know what UMass does for students. It transforms lives,” Robert Manning said in a statement.

UMass President Marty Meehan called the gift transformational.

“It says that UMass is a good investment and an opportunity to have direct and immediate impact on the future of the Commonwealth,” he said.