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Date: June 17, 1999
Insurance CEO Peter Lewis Gives $55 Million to Princeton; Gift Will Help Launch Pioneering New Institute for Integrative Genomics
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Peter B. Lewis, a 1955 Princeton University graduate and a member of its board of trustees, has made a $55 million gift to the University, of which $35 million will be used for its pioneering new Institute for Integrative Genomics. Launched last year, the Institute will build on the University's strengths in the sciences and engineering to develop an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to examining how the actions of different genes are integrated in living organisms. Lewis, who is chairman and CEO of the Progressive Corporation, one of the nation's largest auto insurers, made the donation to mark the 45th anniversary of the graduation of his Class of 1955 from Princeton.
Often honored for his business skills as well as his involvement in civic affairs, Lewis has led Progressive since 1965, building it from a small company of 100 employees to one of the fastest growing insurance companies in the nation, with 17,000 employees. A long-time patron of the arts, Lewis helped to create the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, where a gallery is named in his honor, chairs the board of trustees of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and helped establish a gallery of contemporary art at Princeton.
The part of Lewis's gift dedicated to the Institute for Integrative Genomics will be used to support an innovative aspect of the program involving a limited number of well-established senior faculty and a combination of post-doctoral and senior visitors selected for unusual academic distinction and promise. Typically, five-year term appointments will be made, with ample start-up funding to ensure that people can focus immediately on their research. The focus of that research will be on translating the expanding wealth of information on genetic sequences into important discoveries about cells and their mechanics. The institute will integrate research in molecular biology with innovations and ideas from fields such as physics, chemistry, computer science and engineering disciplines with powerful analytic tools for manipulating large data sets and managing complexity.
The director of the new Institute is Shirley M. Tilghman, the Howard A. Prior Professor of the Life Sciences at Princeton University; a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the Royal Society of London; and one of the architects of the national effort to map the entire human genome. Professor Tilghman said, "This extraordinary gift by Peter Lewis will give Princeton an opportunity to create an entirely new academic environment to tackle biology's next great challenge -- to understand the collective properties of organisms in a precise and quantitative way."
"What really excites me about this new initiative," said Lewis, "is that it brings together remarkably talented people in a way that is very different from what has been traditionally done at Princeton. The combination of bright young minds, experienced senior scientists and the resources for them to work together creatively in an area of international importance maximizes the chances that good ideas and important discoveries will happen. I've always been a risk-taker myself, and this new Institute seems very much in that spirit."
In addition to his gift to the Institute, Lewis has allocated a generous share of his gift to the Class of 1955's 45th Annual Giving campaign, with a part of that to be used as a challenge fund for classmates to expand their own gifts for that campaign. The remainder of his gift will be dedicated to a variety of new and exciting projects that are currently under development at the University.
"We could not be more grateful for Peter's generous commitment," said President Shapiro. "He sees clearly what we are trying to accomplish in our new Institute, but he also understands the critical importance of the right combination of people and resources to the success of our Campaign. I am especially excited by the opportunity this gift will give us to make the emerging study of Genomics an important and exciting field here -- made possible by bringing together the very best minds in a creative new way."
After his graduation from Princeton, Lewis joined Progressive as an underwriting trainee. In his current position as chairman and CEO, which he assumed in 1965, Lewis has pursued his vision to reduce the human trauma and economic costs of auto accidents through a series of cost-effective innovations, such as Immediate Response(r) claims service and Express Quote(r), a free auto insurance rate comparison service.
Lewis's gift is part of The Anniversary Campaign for Princeton, launched in 1995 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the University's charter. The campaign, which has already raised more than $750 million, is seeking to raise a total of $900 million to strengthen the University's programs of teaching, scholarship and research.