So we have suffered a tragedy here, a death that could be appreciated by the early Greek scribes.
Lewis Katz is gone and his son Drew has some very large shoes to fill.
The "other" partner, H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest stands alone, for the moment. (And how do you get "Gerry" out of H.F.?)
Anyway, you've probably read a lot (if you care) and a little (if you don't).
I knew Lew Katz slightly, and liked him.
Do you notice that almost every picture you see of him has Gerry Lenfest smiling? OK, billionaires have a lot to smile about, I guess. (OK, maybe not Donald Sterling right now.)
You've read Katz was a philanthropist. Same for Lenfest, who plans on giving his fortune away. Excerpts from Wikipedia:
On March 21, 2007, Lenfest announced a donation of $33 million to be spent solely on faculty compensation at his alma mater, Washington and Lee University, where he serves as a trustee, and an unpublished amount to Wilson College, his wife's alma mater. In recent years, Lenfest has given over $100 million to Columbia University, where his donations include a $48 million challenge gift toward the endowment of 32 new professorships, $15 million toward construction of a Law School residence hall which bears his name, $15 million to support the programs of the Earth Institute, $12 million to endow awards for outstanding teaching, and most recently a $30 million pledge to help build a multidisciplinary arts venue on the Manhattanville campus.
'Gerry' and Marguerite Lenfest have given the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia $63.6 million in endowment, annual giving, underwriting of faculty chairs and student fellowships, bricks and mortar. …
Lenfest endows the Lenfest College Scholars program, a $12,000 per year scholarship awarded to high school juniors from the south central Pennsylvania area.
There's more, but you get the idea. He's happy that he's rich and happy he can help others. Just like Lew Katz.
Lenfest is a businessman and he is very bright. He doesn't know this business so I trust he will hire people who do.
After being in the hands of the dumb and the greedy and the callus over the past decade, I feel good about Gerry and Lew's son Drew.
Pretty much, here at the Daily News, Inquirer and Philly.com, I think we all do.