When Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest sit still long enough to accept the Philadelphia Award this week, it will be entirely appropriate to fill the air with honorifics and superlatives:

The big cash behind the expansion of the Curtis Institute of Music. On track to become the most generous donors in the history of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

But the unseen hands of the Lenfests as civic catalysts have been every bit as deft as the ones signing checks.

"He does not give just for the sake of giving. He becomes involved in the things he gives to. He's a very smart fellow," said Ralph J. Roberts, a longtime friend and, as founder of Comcast Corp., former business rival.

"Gerry draws all his friends into his other philanthropic activities," said Columbia University president Lee C. Bollinger. "I feel like I've done more for the Curtis Institute of Music than I've done for any nonprofit institution other than Columbia."

It's hard to believe now, but the Lenfest name scarcely would have stirred the lust of fund-raisers a decade ago. Then, in 2000, the family's net worth jumped $1.2 billion when Harold FitzGerald "Gerry" Lenfest sold his cable business, the Philadelphia region's largest.

The couple have worn their wealth as if it's a temporary condition, which - at least in scale - it is: The Lenfests decided to distribute the vast majority of their proceeds to charity; now, nine years later, they are coming to the end of a spectacular philanthropic spree that has given away or committed nearly $800 million.

"We've given a lot of money to a lot of organizations, and I'm not sure we can keep going at this pace. We've given away the bulk of our wealth," said Gerry Lenfest, 78. "We'll have to go into hibernation."

Not hibernation, perhaps - and they will hardly be destitute. Lenfest has not forgotten how to make money. He is involved in a variety of business pursuits and investments - two car dealerships in the area, a boatyard in Rhode Island, a company that develops training products for pilots and other air crew.

Lenfest largesse will live on through the Lenfest College Scholarship Program and, in a more modest form, through the smaller charities established by the three Lenfest children at their parents' behest.

But regardless of their future philanthropy, the couple will be given a civic tip of the hat to the Lenfest Decade, as it might be called, when they are honored Wednesday with the Philadelphia Award - a medal and $25,000 honorarium - in an Art Museum ceremony. Founded in 1921 by Edward W. Bok, the Philadelphia author and editor, the award is given in recognition of accomplishments during the previous year.

Lenfest said there was no overarching philosophy to the couple's giving. "We're open. We're not closed to ideas like saving the ocean, or global warming, or things we never thought about before we first started.

"First, I don't believe in family foundations. Each individual should have their own foundation without interference. Second, I don't believe in perpetuity. Our foundation will end no later than 30 years after the death of Marguerite and me. And we don't give to individuals, only 501(c)3 charities."

The rich may not be like you and me, but somehow the Lenfests never got the message.

Recently Marguerite thrust a ceremonial shovel in the ground to mark construction of the Curtis Institute annex, then returned to the couple's condo on nearby Rittenhouse Square to wonder aloud about where to tote her vacuum cleaner for repairs.

She power washes their deck. When they fly to Florida, it's in coach. They don't have a maid or a cook. Most of the year they live in the same 2,800-square-foot house in a suburb north of Philadelphia that they bought in 1966 for $35,000.

The Lenfests' interest in philanthropy predates the sale of Lenfest Communications Inc., Roberts noted. But money unquestionably has given Gerry Lenfest entrée. He could not be chairman of the boards of the Art Museum, the Curtis Institute, and the American Revolution Center - simultaneously, no less - if he weren't worth a bundle.

The Lenfests' giving has been national and international. But regionally, their philanthropy has had far-reaching effects on many fronts.

Without their money and activism, the Barnes Foundation would not be moving to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, nor would Curtis be undertaking its largest expansion. Without $93 million in Lenfest gifts and pledges, the Art Museum might not have had the courage to expand and renovate on the same scale. And students in Franklin County, Pa. - and more than 100 others from relatively rural areas of Pennsylvania - might not have had the chance to go to college.

Since 2000, 180 groups have received gifts totaling between $100,000 and $93 million, and many more have been given smaller ones. Sometimes money comes through the Lenfest Foundation, sometimes from the Lenfests personally.