Thursday, May 24, 2007 in NY Newsday
From Associated Press – A New York philanthropist has donated $22.5 million to the Archdiocese of New York for its inner-city scholarship program, the archdiocese announced yesterday.
The gift from Robert Wilson – a publicity-shy retired hedge fund manager named one of Business Week’s “50 most generous philanthropists” – will enable 3,000 children to attend inner-city Catholic elementary schools of their choice.
Cardinal Edward Egan called the donation a “historic and farsighted support” of his inner-city scholarship campaign, started in 2005.
Another Wall Street investor, who requested anonymity, donated $4.5 million to the scholarship program upon hearing of Wilson’s gift, said Joe Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese.
With the two donations, the Cardinal’s Scholarship Program has raised $97 million toward a $158 million goal to provide scholarships to needy elementary school children who live at or below the poverty line “to fill every empty seat in archdiocesan inner city schools by 2010.”
In the first two years of the program, 3,700 children received scholarships of up to $2,100 per year to attend one of 86 elementary schools through eighth grade in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island.
With Wilson’s donation, Zwilling said, 5,000 scholarship seats remained unfilled.
Wilson, who is in his 80s, according to the archdiocese, is one of the nation’s major philanthropists.
According to Business Week, he has also contributed millions to environmental and wildlife conservation causes, the New York Public Library and the city’s arts institutions.
He reportedly made his money on Wall Street by turning a $15,000 investment into $225 million. He recently said he wants to give away 70 percent of his wealth before he dies. The archdiocese said Wilson declined to provide his biography, saying he wanted the story to be about the scholarship program, not him.