ROCHESTER – A billionaire businessman who has donated more than $60 million to schools, hospitals, and centers for the developmentally disabled in Rochester, Thomas Golisano, is giving $6 million to two Roman Catholic schools in his hometown.

Mr. Golisano pledged annual $1 million installments through 2008 to both Bishop Kearney and Our Lady of Mercy high schools, handing over the first checks to school leaders at a news conference yesterday.

“I strongly believe in the excellent work being done to educate students at these quality institutions,” he said. “Both are true to mission and have a focus on educating the whole student, preparing them for life.”

Mercy is an all-girls school with 638 students, and Bishop Kearney has about 450 students, both boys and girls.

In January, Mr. Golisano ended months of speculation about his political future by deciding not to pursue a fourth run for governor of New York. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1994, 1998, and 2002 on the Independence Party ticket, switched to the Republican Party in October, but then decided not to seek the GOP nomination.

In 2004, Mr. Golisano stepped down as president and chief executive of Paychex Incorporated, a payroll-processing company he founded in 1971, to devote more time to his political and philanthropic endeavors.

His biggest charitable gifts were $14 million apiece to Rochester Institute of Technology in 2001 and the children’s wing of the University of Rochester’s Strong Memorial Hospital in 2002.

Mr. Golisano said in an interview in 1998 that when he dies, nearly 90% of his fortune will go to a foundation that helps developmentally disabled children and adults. His second son, Steven, is mentally disabled.

Mr. Golisano saved the Buffalo Sabres from bankruptcy with his purchase of the NHL franchise in April 2003.