Perelman Pledges $50-Million for N.Y. Hospital Rebuilding

Billionaire financier Ronald Perelman will give New York’s NYU Langone Medical Center $50-million over 10 years to complete construction of an expanded emergency department, replacing a much smaller unit that was badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy, reports The New York Times.

The new, 22,000-square-foot facility is slated to open in April 2014. The hospital was already planning to upgrade its outdated and overcrowded emergency center when Sandy hit last fall, shutting down the old unit and putting the expansion on a fast track.

Mr. Perelman sits on NYU Langone’s board of trustees and has previously donated $13-million to the hospital. Earlier this year he gave $100-million to Columbia University to develop a new center for business innovation.