U. of Penn. Medical School Gets $225-Million Pledge
By Maria Di Mento
Senior Editor
May 13, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
How much: $225-million pledge
Who gave it: Raymond G. Perelman, chairman of RGP Holdings, a company with holdings in finance, manufacturing, and mining, and his wife, Ruth.
Who got it: University of Pennsylvania, to endow the newly renamed Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine.
Purpose: The money is not earmarked for specific purposes, but officials of the Philadelphia school said it would help them attract more top researchers and medical faculty and enable the institution to provide medical students with more financial aid.
How the gift came about: This is not the first gift the couple has made to the university; they also gave $25-million to the Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine in 2005. Mr. Perelman, who is 93, graduated from the university’s Wharton School in 1940 and serves on the medical school’s Board of Trustees. He said in an interview that the 2005 donation caused him to become much more interested in medicine and health care.
Why the donors gave: Mr. Perelman cited his concerns about America’s health-care system and the demands of the new law to overhaul it, “They’re going to have to graduate many more doctors,” he says. He said the financial-aid money will help many more qualified students pay for medical school: “They’ll be better trained and will help more people.”
For details about other new gifts, including $50-million to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, go to http://philanthropy.com/topdonors. Send gift news to gifts@philanthropy.com.
