Peter B. Lewis donates $5 million to the Cleveland Institute of Art, his biggest hometown donation in a decade
Posted July 11, 2012 in Articles
Author: Steven Litt
Peter B. Lewis, the iconoclastic insurance executive and philanthropist, has done an about-face on his hometown by making a $5 million donation to the Cleveland Institute of Art.
The gift, announced Tuesday, is the biggest from Lewis to any institution in Cleveland since he declared a temporary boycott on his local giving in 2002 to vent frustration with the city.
He ended the boycott in 2003, but has made local gifts only up to $1 million since then.
Lewis made the $5 million donation, he said Tuesday over lunch at Moxie in Beachwood, to recognize that the $150-million-plus Uptown development in University Circle, of which the art institute is part, has met the high hopes he articulated for the development in 2004.
“It’s the first time in a long time I’ve been impressed by Cleveland,” he said. “I’m impressed by the achievement and accomplishment, I’m impressed all around.”
Original Article: http://blog.cleveland.com/architecture/2012/07/peter_b_lewis_donates_5_millio.html
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