Prominent Scarsdale philanthropists Philip and Cheryl Milstein have made a $20 million donation to Columbia University Medical Center to help build a new medical and graduate education building, the latest in legacy of sizeable contributions to the university, its medical center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. The 14-story glass tower will be built on Haven Avenue between West 171st and West 172nd streets.
The university’s president, Lee C. Bollinger, praises Philip Milstein’s “enduring commitment” to his alma mater. The Milstein family have a long history with Columbia that began with Vivian and Seymour Milstein, Philip Milstein’s parents. The family has funded research, endowed professorships and served on the hospitals’ boards. The NewYork-Presbyterian’s Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center and the Milstein Hospital Building, the main building of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, owe their existence to large gifts from the family, including Philip Milstein’s brother Paul Milstein and his sister, Gloria Milstein Flanzer.
Philip Milstein became a trustee of New York-Presbyterian Hospital in 2012. His father was chairman of the board of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital from 1989 to 1996. Cheryl Milstein serves as vice chair of the Barnard College Board of Trustees. Philip Milstein is the co-founder of Ogden CAP Properties LLC, which owns and manages residential apartment buildings, commercial office and retail space, and The Jefferson Hotel in Washington, DC.
Dr. P. Roy Vagelos, who along with his wife, Diane, gave the lead gift of $50 million to the new medical and graduate education building in 2010, praised the Milsteins’ contribution. “For Philip and Cheryl Milstein, their family connection to Columbia can be traced back more than half a century. It is wonderful and fitting that they would continue their legacy of generosity with the most important project for the future of medical and graduate education at CUMC,” Vagelos said in a statement.
In addition to his support of the hospital, Milstein is a benefactor of Columbia College and serves on the boards of other New York institutions, including the 92nd Street Y, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and New York University’s Stern Graduate School of Business.