SOURCE OF WEALTH: PJ SOLOMON
FUNDING AREAS: Arts & Culture, Human Services & Health, Education & Youth
OVERVIEW: Peter and Susan Solomon conduct their philanthropy through the Peter and Susan Solomon Family Foundation, which according to available tax filings, awarded $821,000 in grants in 2018. The family support their schools and other educational causes. Much of the couple’s philanthropy also centers around the arts.
BACKGROUND: Peter J. Solomon has an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.B.A from Harvard Business School. Solomon was vice chairman of Lehman Brothers, where he was chairman of its merchant banking division and co-chairman of the investment banking division. In 1989, he went on to found PJ SOLOMON, an investment banking advisory firm. Solomon has also worked in government, including as deputy mayor of economic policy and development in New York City.
ISSUES:
ARTS & CULTURE: Solomon is on the board of trustees of American Museum of Natural History, which the family supports. Other grantees have included American Friends Musée d’Orsay (the couple are on the board), Manhattan Theatre Club (Solomon was once chair), New York Public Radio, Rosenbach Museum, and the Morgan Library & Museum. One of Solomon’s daughters is an actress who has worked in New York theater at such venues as Manhattan Theatre Club.
HUMAN SERVICES & HEALTH: Grantees have included United Hospital Fund, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, JRDF, and Hospital for Special Surgery.
EDUCATION & YOUTH: Solomon supports his alma mater Harvard, where some of his kids also graduated. In the 1980s, Solomon, then a member of the Harvard board of overseers, announced the establishment of the Friends of the Center for Jewish Studies, which seeks to provide an ongoing base of support for the Center and to enable it to expand its areas of activity. The couple also support Susan’s school Tufts University. Other grantees have included Brearley School, Collegiate School, KIPP New York, and Young Women’s College Prep.
OTHER: Solomon is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, which the couple support.
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the Solomons to stick with their established interests for now.
CONTACT:
The Peter and Susan Solomon Family Foundation does not provide a clear avenue of contact but below is an address:
Peter and Susan Solomon Family Foundation
B. Strauss Assoc 307 5th Avenue, Fl 8
New York, NY 10016
