The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, West Palm Beach, FL announced that Toby and Leon Cooperman, residents of Boca Raton, Florida and Short Hills, New Jersey, have donated a leadership gift of $1 million to the Kravis Center’s Capital Campaign. 

Well known for their generous philanthropic giving, the Cooperman’s are signatories of The Giving Pledge, a campaign to encourage affluent people to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.  They established the Cooperman College Scholars, a program that covers tuition for 500 high school graduates in New Jersey and helps these highly motivated, academically talented, under-represented students thrive in college.  The Cooperman’s are also donors to Hunter College, where they met while Mrs. Cooperman was class president and he was class vice president, and to Columbia Business School where Mr. Cooperman earned his MBA.  The Cooperman’s also donated towards the expansion of the Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey.

“One of the four things you can do with money is to put it back into society to make the place you came into a better place when you leave,” said Mr. Cooperman.  “That’s what we are doing by supporting the Kravis Center’s expansion project.  Toby is a former special-needs teacher and we are especially fond of the work the Kravis Center does to enrich the lives of students in Palm Beach County with their arts education programming.”

Mr. Cooperman is a legendary investor who began his career at Goldman Sachs and spent 15 years as a Partner and one year as of-counsel to the Management Committee.  In 1989, he became Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Chief Investment Officer of the firm’s equity product line, also managing the GS Capital Growth Fund.  At the end of 1991, following 25 years of service, Cooperman retired from Goldman Sachs to organize and launch an investment management business, Omega Advisors, Inc., which he ran for 27 years before converting it to a family office at the end of 2018.  

“It is such a pleasure to know Leon and Toby and I am delighted to have them be a part of the expansion project.  I admire their great love to support the community,” said John Kessler, Kravis Center Board Vice Chair and Chairman of the Capital Campaign.  “Their leadership gift to the Kravis 2020: The Future is Now Capital Campaign is deeply appreciated.” 

“We are so grateful for the Cooperman’s strong support and their commitment to our mission of enhancing the quality of life in Palm Beach County.  Thanks to their substantial gift, as well as generous contributions from others, the Capital Campaign is well on its way to meeting its $50 million goal,” said Judith Mitchell, Kravis Center CEO. 

The Kravis 2020: The Future is Now Capital Campaign will fund the renovation and expansion of the Kravis Center’s campus to enhance the customer experience for the over 500,000 people who attend events at the Kravis Center each year.  The project, a result of the Board’s strategic planning process, will increase the size of the Dreyfoos Hall Lobby, create a welcoming, pedestrian-friendly plaza opening onto Okeechobee Boulevard, add a new valet parking garage, add a new entrance/exit ramp to the existing garage for self-parking guests, and will improve the overall traffic flow on and around the 10-acre campus.  The project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2020 and will be funded through donations. Interruptions in the performance schedule are not anticipated.

For more information about the Kravis 2020: The Future is Now Capital Campaign, visit kravis.org/kravis2020 or call 561.651.4273