Dawn M. Greene, Philanthropist and Columbia Donor, Passes Away

L-R: New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Dawn M. Greene and Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger at the March 20, 2006 announcement in Low Library of the Jerome L. Greene Science Center

"The Columbia community is saddened by the passing of Dawn M. Greene, an irreplaceable partner in building Columbia University into the world’s center of new knowledge.

"Dawn served as a close friend and counsel to many of us at Columbia, and in the decade since the passing of her husband Jerry in 1999 she carried on their philanthropic work in the same spirit of involvement, generosity, and ambition. The gift made by Dawn Greene and The Jerome L. Greene Foundation in 2006 for the construction of The Jerome L. Greene Science Center was, at the time, the largest gift ever received by an American university solely for the development of a single facility. Her impact across Columbia’s campuses at Morningside Heights, our Law School , Columbia University Medical Center , and now Manhattanville is lasting and so large as to defy easy description.

"Dawn was a visionary who established as her top priority support for the study of mind, brain, and behavior because she saw it as the most compelling intellectual challenge of the 21st century. In the years ahead, the Jerome L. Greene Science Center will come to be known as the leading venue where abstract philosophical and psychological questions about the mind are translated into the empirical language of modern biology; there, interdisciplinary teams of scholars and researchers will improve our understanding of psychiatric and neurological disorders ranging from autism to schizophrenia and from motor neuron disease to Alzheimer’s dementia. The gift made by Dawn Greene enabling the creation of the Jerome L. Greene Science Center and the Mind Brain Behavior Institute will be seen for years to come as a major step into the future for both Columbia University and the nation.

"Dawn’s love for theater and the arts was well know to all of us in the Columbia community, and she was a steadfast supporter of every variety of cultural and civic endeavor including the Juilliard School, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Jewish Museum, WNET-Channel 13, WNYC radio, the American Cancer Society, Montifiore Medical Center, and many others.

"In 2008, for her extraordinary philanthropy both in partnership with, and later in honor of her late husband, Columbia University was proud to award Dawn with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. We will miss her deeply even as we rededicate ourselves to fulfilling her vision in the years ahead."

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This month’s edition includes information about career counseling and finance, IvyLife networking events and travel study in Antarctica.