News from
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Communications and Publications
Stanhope Hall
Princeton, New Jersey 08544-5264
TEL 609/258-3600 FAX 609/258-1301

Release: Sept. 21, 1995
Contact: Jacquelyn Savani (609/258-5729)


Financier Ronald O. Perelman Endows
Institute for Jewish Studies at Princeton

Princeton, N.J. -- Financier and philanthropist Ronald O. Perelman
has given Princeton University $4.7 million to create a
multidisciplinary institute focusing on Jewish studies, the
University announced today. The Ronald O. Perelman Institute for
Jewish Studies will bring together leading scholars to examine
Jewish history, religion, literature, thought, society, politics
and cultures, establishing Princeton as a major center for the
study of one of the world's great civilizations.

``Princeton already has considerable strength in this field, ``
said Princeton President Harold T. Shapiro, ``The new Institute
that will be created through Ron Perelman's generosity will not
only enrich our own teaching and scholarship but accelerate the
growth of Jewish Studies throughout the world.''

The establishment of the Ronald O. Perelman Institute for Jewish
Studies reflects Princeton's strong tradition of interdisciplinary
studies as well as its broad commitment to Jewish culture, and
will enable the University, for the first time, to offer
undergraduate students the opportunity to earn a certificate in
Jewish Studies. The gift from Mr. Perelman, Chief Executive
Officer of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, will be used to support a
senior faculty position -- the Ronald O. Perelman Professor of
Jewish Studies -- and a wide variety of academic and scholarly
activities, including courses, lectures, seminars and conferences
that will convene scholars from diverse disciplines to examine a
particular aspect of Jewish experience.

``I am delighted to have the opportunity to establish this
program, which will shape intellectual concepts in the field,
promote interdisciplinary research and scholarship, and perhaps
most important, bring Jewish civilization to life for Princeton
students,'' said Mr. Perelman.

The activities of the new Perelman Institute will be launched this
spring, with an international symposium on messianism held in
collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
Professor Moshe Idel, Chair of the Department of Jewish Thought at
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and one of the world's foremost
scholars of Jewish mysticism, will present the opening keynote
lecture at the symposium -- the first of the Institute's regular
conferences on Jewish studies.

The University is committed to raising an additional $4.5 million
for the Ronald O. Perelman Institute as part of an upcoming fund-
raising campaign to celebrate Princeton's 250th anniversary. Mr.
Perelman is a founding contributor to the campaign, which does not
begin officially until November of this year.

Mr. Perelman is well known as an innovative leader and generous
supporter of many of the nation's most prominent cultural and
educational institutions. He is President of the Board of
Trustees of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and serves on
the Boards of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie
Hall, The University of Pennsylvania and The New York University
Medical Center, among others. He is also the founder of the
Revlon/UCLA Women's Cancer Research Program, which focuses on the
causes and treatment of breast and ovarian cancers.

Mr. Perelman, who holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from
the Wharton School, serves as both Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of MacAndrews & Forbes, a diversified holding company with
interests in consumer products, entertainment, financial services
and publishing. Among many other distinctions, he has been named
a member of the French Legion of Honor.

---