Hintzes Give $5 Million For Alumni Center, Academic Programs

4-18-97

University Park, Pa.- Penn State alumni Edward R. and Helen Skade Hintz have pledged $5 million to the University, part of which is designated to help build a new alumni center and part is for graduate fellowships, international studies and other academic priorities.

Ed Hintz, a New York investment manager and Penn State trustee, was recently named chair of the University's forthcoming capital campaign. Helen Hintz will serve as vice chair for the College of Health and Human Development's segment of the campaign.

"Ed and Helen Hintz have demonstrated remarkable generosity and leadership through this commitment," said President Graham B. Spanier. "They truly love this University and we are extremely fortunate to have their support of time, talent and resources in our forthcoming capital campaign. This pace-setting gift will surely inspire other alumni and friends to make gifts that will have an equally profound impact on the future of Penn State."

The alumni center is planned as an addition to University House on the University Park campus and will be financed entirely by private funds.

"The center is a facility that we have long needed, given the steady growth in alumni activities," Spanier noted. "Although we have the largest dues-paying alumni association in the world-more than 140,000 members-we're one of the few major universities that has no dedicated alumni center."

The center will serve as a gathering point for returning alumni and offer information about the University's academic achievements, campus tours, and special events. It will contain meeting rooms, a hall of honor recognizing outstanding alumni, and space for alumni association staff. The structure's estimated cost is approximately $7 million. Architectural design will begin later this year and construction could begin as early as 1998.

"Helen and I want to support programs that will help students, faculty and alumni, and are important objectives for the upcoming capital campaign," Ed Hintz said. "Our experience is that private support can make a big difference in the quality of the educational experience at Penn State."

Ed Hintz graduated from Penn State in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in finance. After receiving an MBA from Harvard in 1963 and working as an analyst/portfolio manager for a number of years, he founded the investment firm of Hintz, Holman and Hecksher, Inc. in 1975. He has been a Penn State trustee since 1994. Last fall President Spanier named him to head the University's next capital campaign. The campaign's dollar goal has not been set.

Hintz also was a vice chair of the Campaign for Penn State, which raised $352 million for academic programs from 1984 to 1990, and chaired the National Development Council, the University top fund-raising advisory body from 1993 to 1996.

Helen Hintz, a 1960 graduate in consumer services, is coordinator of career development for the department of nutrition, food, and hotel management at New York University, where she received her master's degree in 1987. She is an adviser to Penn State's College of Health and Human Development on advancement issues, including communications, fund raising and alumni relations.

In addition, Ed Hintz led the campaign that raised $22 million in gifts to help build Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center, and the couple served on the committee that raised more than $12 million for the new Paterno Library. Their previous philanthropy to the University has included gifts to support faculty and students in the College of Health and Human Development, the School of Music and the Penn State Berks campus.

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