Temple to christen the Lewis Katz medical school
When Drew Katz wants to feel his father's presence, he puts on a pair of Lewis Katz's size 11 sneakers. They fit perfectly.
When Drew Katz wants to feel his father's presence, he puts on a pair of Lewis Katz's size 11 sneakers. They fit perfectly.
"I actually literally walk in his shoes," Katz said.
On Tuesday, Katz, 44, will stand in for his father when Temple University officially names its medical school after the late Temple grad - an entrepreneur and philanthropist who made his fortune in parking, banking, billboards, and real estate and went on to become the largest donor in the university's history.
With the sign, "sunset silver" letters on red brick, Lewis Katz becomes an immortal fixture in the life of the university he loved and supported.
It undoubtedly will be a bittersweet occasion for Katz's family and friends, who will gather Tuesday for the dedication, nearly a year and a half after the elder Katz, a longtime member of Temple's board of trustees and a former co-owner of The Inquirer, died in a plane crash.
"Our whole family is so incredibly proud and honored about this wonderful naming," said Drew Katz, who has filled his father's trustee seat. "My father cast a long shadow, and he led an impactful life, and I really can't go anywhere in the world where I don't run into somebody who has some story about my Dad that will make me sad and will also make me smile. Only sad because of how much we miss him."
Temple announced in 2013 that the elder Katz had pledged $25 million to Temple. The following May, Temple said the gift would support the medical school, which would bear Katz's name. Less than three weeks later, Katz, 72, and six other passengers died when his private jet crashed outside Boston.
Founded nearly 115 years ago, the medical school currently is housed in a $160 million, 450,000-square-foot building at 3500 N. Broad St., that opened in 2009. It enrolls about 1,000 medical and doctoral students and employs more than 900 faculty. Among its 13,000 alumni are many doctors in the Philadelphia region.
University officials said the gift would be paid in installments over years and fund scholarships, professorships and programs.
"This is so much more about honoring the memory of Lewis Katz," said Larry Kaiser, medical school dean and CEO of Temple's health system.
Katz was key in securing funding for Temple's soon-to-be-built $190 million library, said Temple President Neil D. Theobald. He also lobbied the state for university funding.
Months before Katz's death, Kaiser said he told Katz about a new piece of advanced equipment that could revolutionize prostate biopsies. The cost: $250,000. Katz soon handed him a check.
Born in Camden, Katz was raised by his mother, who worked two jobs to support the family. His father died when he was 1, and he attended Temple on scholarship. He earned his bachelor's in biology in 1963. Katz's mother wanted him to become a doctor, but he couldn't stand the sight of blood and instead went to law school.
"He actually, I think, applied to both law school and medical school, and he hid the acceptance letter to medical school from his mother," Drew Katz said.
Drew Katz, who splits time between Philadelphia and New York and runs Cherry Hill-based Interstate Outdoor Advertising, said his father was interested in how rapid advancements in medicine could yield cures for diseases once thought incurable. Avid about fitness, he became more focused on medicine after he got bypass surgery more than a decade ago, Katz said. In 2007, he created the Katz Prize in Cardiovascular Research at Columbia University Medical Center - annual $100,000 prizes to two physicians.
"He wanted to be around for his children and grandchildren, so having a healthy heart and healthy body was important to him," said his daughter, Melissa Silver, 46, of Bergen County, who will attend the dedication.
Former Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino and Sens. Cory Booker and Robert P. Casey Jr. are among those expected at festivities this week. Straight No Chaser, an a cappella group that became Katz's favorite, will perform.
A portrait of Lewis Katz by Italian artist Francesco Mernini will hang in the lobby; Katz's favorite quote by former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden - "You can't live a perfect day unless you do something for someone who will never be able to repay you" - will grace the dean's conference room.
"His name will be forever inscribed where we teach physicians to care for all people with excellence and compassion," said Patrick O'Connor, chairman of Temple's trustee board and a close Katz friend. "And I think that sums up Lewis - excellence and compassion."
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