Howard Gittis died last night in NYC. His office has sent out notices today. The Philadelphia-area native has been Vice Chairman & Chief adminstrative officer of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., the holding company of Ronald O. Perelman, for the past 22 years. Gittis' office says he was "Ronald's closest friend and advisor and business partner." Gittis served on the boards of most of MacAndrew companies including Revlon, Panavision, Scientific Games, Allied barton Security Services, Harland Clarke and M&F Worldwide, where he had been chairman and CEO.
Gittis' impact in the Philadelphia area was huge, even after he moved to New York in 1985. He was a partner and chairman of the executive committee at Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, where he worked for 25 years. Gittis' office notes that he had been Chairman of the board of trustees of Temple University, where the Howard Gittis student center is named for him. Here's a profile in the Temple Times a few years ago. He was also a memeber of the boad of overseers of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where Gittis Hall and the Gittis Center for clinical and legal studies are named for him. In politics, Gittis was also a heavy weight. Since 2004, he has donated more than $240,000 to Democratic and Republican candidates and committees.
Comments (2)
Life will go on.
Posted by Anonymous | October 23, 2007 9:12 AM
Posted on October 23, 2007 09:12
"It's very difficult for us to represent to our students that this is a first-rate University without providing the experiences that are offered elsewhere. A great football team, a great basketball team, a great dance program [among other things] . . . our students are entitled to all of that and we will provide it."
- Howard Gittis, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Temple University
Posted by Mike Gibson | September 17, 2007 5:45 PM
Posted on September 17, 2007 17:45