36 Facts About Gerry Lenfest

Harold FitzGerald "Gerry" Lenfest was an American lawyer, media executive, and philanthropist.

Gerry Lenfest was born on May 29,1930, in Jacksonville, Florida, then grew up in Scarsdale, New York, and Hunterdon County, New Jersey.

Gerry Lenfest's father was a naval architect; his mother died of a cerebral hemorrhage when he was 13.

Gerry Lenfest attended Flemington High School in New Jersey and the George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania, before graduating from Mercersburg Academy.

Gerry Lenfest attended Columbia Law School, graduating with an LL.

Gerry Lenfest served in the Navy between college and law school.

Gerry Lenfest later served for 24 years in the US Navy Reserve, attaining the rank of captain.

Gerry Lenfest owned the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide, and Seventeen magazine, as well as various television stations, radio stations, and cable enterprises.

Gerry Lenfest formed Lenfest Communications Inc in 1974; using funds from loans and two investors, the new privately held company purchased two cable systems with 7,600 customers from Annenberg.

Gerry Lenfest was chairman of the board of TelVue Corporation from 1989 to 2017.

Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest were among the most prominent Philadelphia-based philanthropists in his last two decades, donating more than $1.3 billion to 1,100 groups, supporting various educational, artistic, journalistic, and healthcare causes.

Gerry Lenfest became friendly with Keith Leaphart, who cleaned Gerry Lenfest's office.

In 2011, Gerry Lenfest pledged $30 million for construction of a multi-arts venue, the Gerry Lenfest Center for the Arts, at Columbia's Manhattanville campus; the Center, designed by Renzo Piano's architectural firm, opened in 2017.

Gerry Lenfest was a member of the Washington and Lee University board of trustees from 1989 to 1998.

Gerry Lenfest was a member of the board of trustees of Temple University from 2013 until his death in 2018.

Gerry Lenfest served for a period as the Temple board's vice chairman.

In 2019, Marguerite Gerry Lenfest joined the Temple board of trustees.

Gerry Lenfest served on the boards of many cultural institutions in Philadelphia; at one point, Lenfest simultaneously served on the boards of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Curtis Institute of Music, and Museum of the American Revolution.

Marguerite Gerry Lenfest served on the board of various institutions, including the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Gerry Lenfest was elected a trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1993, and became chairman of the museum's board in 2001.

Gerry Lenfest was chairman of the board of trustees of the Curtis Institute of Music from 2006 to 2014; he was succeeded as board chair by Nina, Baroness von Maltzahn.

In 2007, Gerry Lenfest donated hundreds of acres of land in Newlin Township in Chester County, Pennsylvania to form the ChesLen Preserve.

Gerry Lenfest began to donate to the SS United States Conservancy in 2009, and in July 2010, Gerry Lenfest pledged up to $5.8 million to the conservancy.

Gerry Lenfest was the largest single contributor to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.

In 2012, Gerry Lenfest made a challenge grant toward establishment of the museum.

Gerry Lenfest donated some $60 million to the museum during his life.

From 2005 to 2016, Gerry Lenfest was chairman of the Museum's board.

Gerry Lenfest gave $500,000 to the National Museum of American Jewish History and $650,000 to the American Friends of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Gerry Lenfest believed strongly that journalism, including local journalism, is indispensable to democracy.

Gerry Lenfest said that he acquired the newspapers not as an investment, but to serve to public good.

Katz and Gerry Lenfest sued in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, seeking Marimow's reinstatement as editor, and arguing that the attempted firing violated the ownership agreement; Norcross countersued.

Gerry Lenfest thus became chairman and sole owner of the Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.

In 2016, Gerry Lenfest donated PMN to a newly created nonprofit, the Institute for Journalism in New Media, formed at Gerry Lenfest's behest by the nonprofit The Philadelphia Foundation, to ensure that the two newspapers would continue to operate to serve Philadelphia.

Gerry Lenfest gave $20 million to endow the nonprofit journalism institute, which owns the newspapers and website but has no editorial or managerial control over them.

Gerry Lenfest was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society in 2004.

Gerry Lenfest was named to the Philanthropy Roundtable's Almanac of American Philanthropy Hall of Fame.