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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Lenfest will get chamber's William Penn Award
H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest

Cable pioneer and philanthropist H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest has been picked receive the 2008 William Penn Award from the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

The award is considered the highest honor given to a business executive in the Philadelphia region.

That Lenfest hadn't already won it is pretty amazing, given the hundreds of millions of dollars he's donated since selling his Suburban Cable empire.

The announcement was made this morning. As per chamber tradition, the award won't actually be handed out until April 17. The award, issued every year since 1949, is given for a variety of reasons: professional accomplishments, commitment to charity and "contributions toward the betterment of the region," the chamber says.

Here's what Lenfest said in the news release:

As business leaders we must continually strive to give back to the community, as our actions directly impact the reputation of Greater Philadelphia. This is an exciting place to live and work, as well as a cultural center unlike any other in the country.

Lenfest started Lenfest Communications in 1974 and grew Suburban Cable from about 7,000 customers to more than 1 million in 2000.

In January 2000, Lenfest and his family sold the company to Comcast Corp. in a deal valued at more than $7.6 billion. Since then, Lenfest has been giving away his money. He contributed $150 million to start the Lenfest Foundation.

He also gave $35 million to Mercersburg Academy, a boarding schoool he attended in Mercersburg, Pa. He also gave $17.4 million to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and $15 million to the Barnes Foundation.

Earlier this year, he gave $20 million as part of the $50 million effort launched by industrialist Henry Rowan to double the endowment of private trade school near Media, the Williamson Free Trade School of Mechanical Trades.

I'd say that certainly qualifies Lenfest to prod business people to give back to the community.
Posted by Mike Armstrong @ 11:32 AM  Permalink | File Under: Consumer Products | | People | 1 comment
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About Mike Armstrong
Mike Armstrong, a business editor and writer for nearly two decades, is the Inquirer's business columnist and PhillyInc blog editor.
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