RONALD STANTON

STANTON--Ronald P.

The Yeshiva University family is deeply saddened by the passing of Ronald P. Stanton, Chairman Emeritus of the YU Board of Trustees and a philanthropist of immense renown. "Ron was a wonderful friend, a tough and gentle leader and a man of enormous vision and love for the Jewish people," said YU President Richard M. Joel. In 2006 Mr. Stanton provided a gift that was, at the time, the largest single gift ever in North America in support of Jewish education and Jewish life. The contribution created the Ronald P. Stanton Legacy, an innovative philanthropic fund to help realize the University's bold strategic directions to enhance undergraduate and Jewish education. "The people who created Yeshiva University expressed a boldness of purpose and imagination as well as the dedication and willingness to give of themselves in order to achieve where we are today," said Mr. Stanton at the time. Born in 1928 in Wiesbaden, Germany, Mr. Stanton immigrated to the United States in 1937. His involvement with Yeshiva University began soon after, when he was offered a scholarship by Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York, to study at the institution and prepare for a career in the rabbinate. He preferred a career in business, and chose to study economics at City College of New York, from which he graduated in 1950. However, he formed a long-standing personal and philanthropic relationship with Yeshiva University. In 1976, he was elected to Yeshiva University's Board of Trustees; in 1992, he was named a Vice Chairman and 10 years later was elected the seventh Chairman of the Board. As Chairman of the University's successful $400 million capital campaign, launched in 2000, he guided the campaign to its goal in just three years. A previous gift from Mr. Stanton endowed the Hedi Steinberg Library at Stern College for Women, the University's undergraduate college of arts and sciences for women, named for Mr. Stanton's mother. Yeshiva University dedicated 245 Lexington Avenue, Stern College for Women's signature building on the Beren Campus, as Ronald P. Stanton Hall in 2009 in recognition of the New York City industrialist's abiding support for the University's mission. Other significant dedications by Mr. Stanton include the Sephardic Reference Room in the Mendel Gottesman Library and The Yad Shmuel Belkin in tribute to Dr. Samuel Belkin's legacy at Yeshiva University. Two YU faculty members have borne the Stanton name: Dr. Adam Zachary Newton was the Ronald P. Stanton Professor of Literature and the Humanities, and Dr. David Shatz is currently the Ronald P. Stanton University Professor of Philosophy, Ethics, and Religious Thought. Mr. Stanton was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University in 1982. Our condolences go out to his family, his children Oliver, Philip and Hedi and his grandchildren, Bradley and Alexandra. May they be comforted among those who mourn for Zion and Jerusalem. Yeshiva University Richard M. Joel, President Norman Lamm, President Emeritus