Philadelphia's Haas family honored with Carnegie Medal

The Haas family, a quiet, multigenerational philanthropic powerhouse based in Philadelphia, has been named one of the eight winners of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, an honor bestowed biannually since 2001 by a consortium of more than 20 Carnegie-related institutions.

Vartan Gregorian, president of the New York City-based Carnegie Corp., said the Haas family, spanning 75 years over four generations, embodies the essence of the award because "they've done so much for so long."

"The Carnegie Medal is not about how much money you have, but whether you have given in such a sustained manner," Gregorian said.

He estimated that Haas family members - beginning with Otto Haas, German-born cofounder of the Rohm & Haas chemical company, and his wife, Phoebe, who established a foundation in 1945 - have given away roughly $2 billion.

That Haas family foundation, today known as the William Penn Foundation, wields about $2 billion in assets, making it the largest philanthropic entity based in Philadelphia and among the largest in the United States.

Janet Haas, currently chair of the foundation's board of directors, said the real significance of the award is that "it highlights the contribution of the foundation . . . over time."

The medal, which has largely gone to individuals and families with a national scope in giving, underscores the importance of "helping to stimulate changes in the quality of life in a particular area," she said.

The William Penn Foundation sticks to its knitting, paying almost complete attention to Philadelphia and the five-county region. But Haas family philanthropy does not begin and end with William Penn.

In 2009, four family members established the Wyncote Foundation, a nimbler philanthropic entity, with about a half-billion dollars realized from the sale of Rohm & Haas Co. to the Dow Chemical Co.

When John C. Haas, son of Otto and Phoebe, died in 2011 at 92, he directed in his will that a portion of the funds realized from the company sale be shifted to the family's philanthropic enterprises. As a result, the Wyncote Foundation was formed, and nearly $800 million was also transferred to William Penn.

John Haas and his brother, F. Otto Haas, both served on the board of William Penn, continuing the family's efforts to help alleviate the region's poverty, bolster its educational institutions, preserve its heritage and landscape, and support its cultural institutions.

Those broad themes remain the focus of the family philanthropy in Philadelphia to this day.

"This award is for the combined Haas family and the philanthropy they've pursued," said David Haas, who is on the William Penn and Wyncote boards. He is the son of John and Chara Haas.

"It is for the use of private wealth for the public good and not just for William Penn, but for 80 years of philanthropy through four generations."

Haas said the Carnegie Medal represented "an opportunity" to "challenge others to do this, to devote their resources" to the public good.

The seven other Carnegie Medal winners, who will be honored at a New York Public Library ceremony on Oct. 15, include Paul G. Allen, Microsoft cofounder; Charles F. Feeney, founder of the Atlantic Philanthropies; Jeremy and Hanne Grantham, environmental philanthropists; Jon M. Huntsman Sr., Utah philanthropist and founder of the Huntsman Cancer Institute; Irwin and Joan Jacobs, San Diego philanthropists; Robert B. Menschel and Richard L. Menschel, New York philanthropists; and David M. Rubenstein, culture and education philanthropist.

Gregorian, once provost of the University of Pennsylvania, emphasized that the Carnegie Medal honors "private donations and gifts for the purpose of overcoming poverty. We're not honoring wealth."

As examples of the sustained philanthropic focus, David Haas - a member of the board of directors of Philadelphia Media Network, which publishes The Inquirer - and Janet Haas, F. Otto Haas' daughter-in-law, both pointed to the family's attention to environmental issues. The Schuylkill Banks trail, the Delaware River watershed, and clean water are major concerns today; open land preservation and the Morris Arboretum were the specific concerns of an earlier generation.

"The Haas family is one of the best of civic-minded families when it comes to museums, universities, arboretums, schools, anything in Germantown - the list is long," said Gregorian. "They've never bragged about anything. . . . The Haas family deserves something big."

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