PND (4/11/2000) -- Cable Entrepreneur Gives $35 Million to Pennsylvania Boarding School

In one of the largest gifts ever to a private secondary school, cable television billionaire H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest and his wife Marguerite have announced a $35 million donation to Mercersburg Academy, a boarding school in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

"The teachers there not only taught education, they taught what you should be as a person . . . that if you develop the right qualities and get an education, you could do something of value in life," said Gerry Lenfest, who graduated from Mercersburg in 1949.

According to Lenfest, the gift represents the first disbursement of approximately $110 million that he and his wife plan to give away this year. Some of the money will stay in Philadelphia, he said, although he declined to provide details. The Lenfests also are putting $100 million into a family foundation that will make additional grants in the future. Last year, the couple donated their collection of Pennsylvania impressionist paintings and $3 million to the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown.

Mercersburg's headmaster, Douglas Hale, said the Lenfest gift will go toward scholarships meant to diversify the student body, increase teacher pay, and renovate dormitories and other buildings on campus.

Although there is no public ranking of gifts to private schools, a confidential survey conducted by the National Association of Independent Schools found that in recent years four member schools have reported individual gifts of $20 million to $30 million; three member schools have received gifts of $50 million to $60 million; and one has received $100 million.

Lenfest paid $2.3 million for Suburban Cable in 1974 and proceeded to buuild it into the largest cable system in the Philadelphia area. In January, it was bought by Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp. for $7.2 billion.

FCnote: H.F. Lenfest is a donor, manager, and a trustee of The Lenfest Foundation (PA), which had assets of $4,818,325 and made grants totaling $227,500 in the fiscal year ending 6/30/98.

FCnote: H.F. Lenfest a donor and trustee of The Lenfest Education Foundation (PA), which had assets of $704 and made grants totaling $18,189 in the fiscal year ending 7/31/98.

Horn, Patricia. "Alumnus Donates $35 Million; H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest Is Giving Mercersburg Academy a Piece of His Fortune From Cable TV." Philadelphia Inquirer 4/7/2000.

FC003292