Harold FitzGerald "Gerry" Lenfest was an American lawyer, media executive, and philanthropist.
14 Facts About Gerry Lenfest
2.
Gerry Lenfest served in the Navy between college and law school.
3.
Gerry Lenfest was the chairman of the board of directors and majority shareholder of the TelVue Corporation.
4.
Lenfest's wife, Marguerite B Lenfest has played an active role in the Lenfest Group, and Suburban Cable TV Co.
5.
Gerry Lenfest planned to donate all of his wealth to worthy causes before his death.
6.
On March 21,2007, Gerry Lenfest announced a donation of $33 million to be spent solely on faculty compensation at his alma mater, Washington and Lee University, where he served as a trustee, and an unpublished amount to Wilson College, his wife's alma mater.
7.
In recent years, Gerry Lenfest has given over $100 million to Columbia University, where his donations include a $48 million challenge gift toward the endowment of 32 new professorships, $15 million toward construction of a Law School residence hall which bears his name, $15 million to support the programs of the Earth Institute, $12 million to endow awards for outstanding teaching, and most recently a $30 million pledge to help build an Arts Center venue on the Manhattanville campus.
8.
Gerry Lenfest was elected a trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in 1993, and became chairman of the Museum's board in 2001.
9.
Gerry Lenfest endowed the Gerry Lenfest College Scholars program, a $12,000 per year scholarship awarded to high school juniors from the south central Pennsylvania area.
10.
Gerry Lenfest became friendly with Keith Leaphart, who cleaned Gerry Lenfest's office.
11.
In 2007, Gerry Lenfest donated over 1,000 acres of land in Newlin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania to form the ChesLen Preserve, a mixture of woodlands and agricultural areas crisscrossed with hiking trails that is intended to remain minimally developed in perpetuity.
12.
In July 2010, Gerry Lenfest donated $5.8 million to the SS United States Conservancy: $3 million to buy the ocean liner SS United States from Norwegian Cruise Lines and the rest to outfit the ship for its next use.
13.
In June 2012, Gerry Lenfest made a $40,000,000 challenge grant to the Museum of the American Revolution to be located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
14.
Later, Gerry Lenfest donated $40 million in matching funds to the Philadelphia Media Network and agreed to work to get the Gerry Lenfest Institute for Journalism to $100 million in endowment funding towards long-term journalism.