NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Yale University Art Gallery has received $10 million from Teresa Heinz in memory of her husband, Sen. John Heinz 3rd of Pennsylvania. It is the largest gift in the gallery's 160-year history.

Heinz graduated from Yale College in 1960 and was a member of the gallery's governing board before his death last April in a plane crash. His father, Henry J. Heinz 2nd, a member of the Class of 1931 and longtime chairman of H.J. Heinz Corp., permanently endowed the directorship of the museum in 1982.

In a statement released earlier this week by the university, Mrs. Heinz said, "This gift commemorates two of John Heinz's great loves -- art and Yale University. Both were important parts of the fabric of his life."

Yale's president, Benno C. Schmidt Jr., said the gift would be counted toward the Yale Campaign, a fund raising effort that seeks to raise $1.5 billion by 1997 for capital improvements throughout the university.

He announced the gift during a banquet to benefit the gallery in New York City.

Yale officials said the art gallery is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It was founded in 1832.