For Peter B. Lewis, the Cleveland philanthropist and chairman of Progressive Insurance, even donating to one’s alma mater is about doing it better than the last guy.
The 72-year-old Lewis, a 1955 graduate of Princeton University, has given the school $101 million to build a new performing arts center and improve the school’s creative arts programs. It’s the largest single monetary gift on record at the university.
“Why wasn’t it $99 million or $100 million?” Lewis asked, acknowledging that the previous record for a donation was $100 million, by Hong Kong developer and graduate Gordon Wu in 1996. “It’s sort of a tongue-in-cheek, ego thing. I wanted to give the biggest gift.”
Lewis’ total contributions to the university now exceed $220 million and make him the school’s “most generous donor in the modern era,” according to a statement from Princeton.
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