Boston Foundation Finds Safe Harbor in Fight Over Donated Ship

An arbitration panel has awarded the Boston Foundation $29.2-million for its stake in a luxury cruise ship, culminating a bitter fight over the vessel partially donated to the charity in 2007 by sibling business partners, The Boston Globe writes.

Hank Lewis–who, with his brother Alan, gave the foundation a 40 percent share of the m/s Paul Gauguin – must also pay $1.6-million in interest to the charity, according to the panel’s 23-page decision, which details the tangled history of the unusual gift.

According to the arbiters, a year after the donation, Hank Lewis began pressing the foundation to sell its stake back to him at a cut rate, warning that its value was plunging amid the economic downturn, without telling his brother or the charity of a lucrative offer for the vessel.

Alan Lewis, a noted Boston philanthropist, had arranged the donation in hopes that revenue from the liner, which plied the South Pacific, would finance foundation programs to combat youth violence in the city. The two brothers are now fighting a court battle over the failed merger of their travel companies.