The group of four recipients of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, left to right, James R. Mellon II, Ratan Tata of India, Teresa Heinz and Eli Broad await questions during a news conference after the ceremony where they were awarded the medals in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

PITTSBURGH — A business mogul and three families that command vast fortunes were honored Wednesday for using their private wealth to benefit the public.

Eli Broad and the Heinz, Mellon and Tata families were awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, named after the Gilded Age industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, during a ceremony at Carnegie Music Hall.

The award, established in 2001 to honor Carnegie's career as a philanthropist, is given every two years to families and individuals who have dedicated their private wealth to the public good.

Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw hosted the event.

Broad started two Fortune 500 companies and later founded The Broad Foundations with his wife, Edythe, to support entrepreneurship for the public good in education, scientific and medical research, and the arts.

Fortune magazine has estimated Broad's wealth at $7 billion, ranking him No. 46 on its list of the country's billionaires. The Broads were credited with giving $200 million to create the Eli and Edythe Broad Institute for Biomedical Research.

The Heinz family was honored for providing a $20 million grant to establish the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment in Washington, D.C.

The center is named after the late senator and heir to the Heinz food fortune, who died in a 1991 plane crash.

Organizers also honored the Mellon family, descendants of the banking magnate Andrew Mellon, for its support of a Pittsburgh business development group and the purchase of more than two million acres in the United States for preservation.

The Tata family of India also received the award for giving away between eight and 14 percent of the annual profits from its Tata Group, a company with interests ranging from automobiles to steel and software, to various causes.

The family's funding has established pioneering institutions in social sciences, cancer research and treatment, and tropical disease research, organizers said in a statement.