Abby and Howard Milstein Make Major Gift to New York Public Library
September 18th, 2012Abby Milstein, a Library trustee, and Howard Milstein donated $8 million to the New York Public Library (NYPL), enabling the new Central Library Plan to move forward. The gift supports building additional storage space at the Stephen Schwarzman Building so that nearly twice as many volumes can be kept in the 42nd Street building as originally planned, answering the requests of scholars and researchers. “It is clearly important to scholars to have immediate access to research material,” NYPL President Anthony Marx said. “Today’s vote by the Board, along with a generous gift from the Milsteins, makes this possible.”
“My experience on the Library’s Board has shown me the importance of The New York Public Library to every community we serve,” Abby Milstein said. “Maintaining the heart of our research holdings adjacent to the Library will preserve this invaluable resource for scholars and researchers, while allowing space for a spectacular new circulating library to better serve all of our users.”
Howard Milstein added, “This exciting new project will propel The New York Public Library into the future. It deserves the support of the Board and people who love the Library. Our commitment is a vote of confidence in President Tony Marx and the entire Board of the Library.”
The Central Library Plan will create what the Library calls “the world’s largest combined research and circulating library facility.” The estimated 30,000 square feet of additional collection storage that the Milsteins’ gift allows to be constructed will house close to 1.5 million volumes, in addition to the 1.8 million volumes that will be stored underneath Bryant Park.
Abby S. Milstein is a Trustee of the New York Public Library, where she co-chairs the Committee on Library Policy and serves on the Executive Committee and many other committees. For 15 years, she chaired or co-chaired the Library’s Literary Luncheon.
Abby is a founding partner in the law firm of Constantine Cannon, P.C. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University (Radcliffe), where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.
Howard P. Milstein is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of New York Private Bank & Trust and its operating bank, Emigrant Bank (the country’s largest privately held bank). He also chairs and operates the Milstein family’s real estate companies, including Milstein Properties, Milford Management and the Milford Agency. Howard is founding Chairman of the merchant bank FriedbergMilstein.
For the New York Public Library’s announcement of the gift, click here.
Source: New York Public Library
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