H. F. Lenfest

Harold FitzGerald "Gerry" Lenfest (May 29, 1930 – August 5, 2018) was an American lawyer, media executive, and philanthropist. Lenfest, along with his wife Marguerite, 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.

Early life and education Lenfest was born on May 29, 1930, in Jacksonville, Florida, His father was a naval architect; his mother died of a cerebral hemorrhage when he was 13.

He attended Columbia Law School,

After graduating from Columbia Law School, Lenfest worked at the firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell before becoming, in 1965, associate counsel to Triangle Publications, Inc., the media company controlled by Walter Annenberg. LCI grew and had become the largest cable operator in the Philadelphia metropolitan area by the late 1990s, with a base of 1.2 million subscribers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

AT&T eventually acquired a one-half ownership interest in LCI. The transaction was completed in January 2000.

Philanthropy 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. They pledged to donate their entire fortune to worthy causes. The couple was critical of perpetual foundations, deciding to give away the bulk of their wealth during their lifetime, and to wind down their foundation no later than 30 years after their deaths. The scale of the Lenfests' contributions in the Philadelphia region is rivaled only by the contributions of the Annenberg and Haas families.

Education By the time of his death, the Lenfests had contributed at least $155 million to Columbia University. the Center, designed by Renzo Piano's architectural firm, opened in 2017.

The Lenfests also donated $109 million to Mercersburg Academy, $81 million to Washington and Lee University (Gerry's alma mater), $40 million to Wilson College (Marguerite's alma mater), $32 million to the Lenfest Scholars Program, $20.5 million to the Williamson College of the Trades, $13.9 million to Teach for America, $10.2 million to Mastery Charter Schools, $10 million to the Lenfest Prep School Scholarship Program, $8.5 million to Temple University, $7.7 million to the Lenfest College Scholarship Program, $7.6 million to Ursinus College, and $6.4 million to Drexel University. He served for a period as the Temple board's vice chairman. Although he was not himself a rower, Lenfest was a longtime admirer of Philadelphia's Boathouse Row, and believed preserving the heritage of the sport on the Schuylkill River was important.

Arts and culture 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.

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

The Lenfests collected works by painters in the Pennsylvania Impressionism movement; in 1999, they donated 59 paintings, as well as $3 million, to the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and later acquired three additional paintings by Edward Willis Redfield that they added to their donation to the Michener. In addition to works by Redfield, the paintings donated included works by Daniel Garber, Fern I. Coppedge, William Langson Lathrop, John Fulton Folinsbee, Robert Spencer, and Charles Rosen.

Lenfest began to donate to the SS United States Conservancy in 2009, and in July 2010, Lenfest pledged up to $5.8 million to the conservancy. Of the sum, $3 million was to buy the historic ocean liner SS United States from Norwegian Cruise Lines (then owned by Genting Hong Kong), and the rest was to continue to berth the historic ship in South Philadelphia and outfit it for its next use. The museum opened to the public in April 2017. Lenfest donated some $60 million to the museum during his life. The museum was also the beneficiary of a $50 million bequest from his estate,

Philadelphia Inquirer and journalistic nonprofits Lenfest believed strongly that journalism, including local journalism, is indispensable to democracy. In April 2012, Lenfest and a consortium of others, including Lewis Katz and George E. Norcross III, purchased Philadelphia Media Network (PMN), the holding company that owned The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and the newspapers' joint website, Philly.com. Lenfest said that he acquired the newspapers not as an investment, but to serve to public good. In October 2013, Inquirer publisher Robert J. Hall fired the newspaper's top editor, Bill Marimow, prompting a public furor. At the court-ordered auction the following month, Lenfest and Katz purchased PNM, outbidding fellow minority owners Norcross and Joseph Buckelew. Lenfest and Katz made the purchase for $88 million, resolving the feud. After Katz died in a plane crash shortly after the sale, Lenfest purchased Katz's share from Katz's son. In addition to supporting the Inquirer, the institute gave $7.5 million in grants to various press organizations, including WHYY. The Lenfests also contributed $5 million to the Foundation Fighting Blindness and $1 million to the Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia. Gerry and Marguerite were honored with The Philadelphia Award in 2009, He was named to the Philanthropy Roundtable's Almanac of American Philanthropy Hall of Fame.

Personal life and death Lenfest married his wife Marguerite in 1955. They had three children. They lived in a modest home in the Philadelphia suburb of Huntingdon Valley, which the couple purchased for $35,000 (equal to $ today, despite actual real estate prices being much higher in 2025) in 1966, and also maintained a home in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square.

Lenfest was a Protestant.

Lenfest died on August 5, 2018, aged 88, in Philadelphia.