1953 College graduate Edward Netter, namesake and benefactor of the Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships, died last Wednesday, according to the Penn Almanac. He was 78.
The Netter Center was founded in 1992 to support Penn’s relationship with the surrounding community. The organization hosts Academically Based Community Service courses, as well as volunteer opportunities and community development.
Ira Harkavy, director of the Netter Center, said Netter was a “continuous source of ideas” and a “path-breaking innovator.” His support was crucial to embedding the Netter Center’s work permanently into the University and increasing the impact of the organization locally, nationally and globally “now and into the future,” he added.
“There is no more fitting monument to service, and generosity” than the Netter Center, Penn President Amy Gutmann said. Gutmann, who will be speaking at Netter’s funeral service Wednesday described him as “a dedicated and beloved alumni, who spent his life improving the lives of others.”
In addition to acting as a benefactor of the Netter Center and as a member of its National Advisory Board, Netter served many other philanthropic causes. He and his wife, Barbara, also founded the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy to benefit cancer research, according to ACGT’s website.
“Edward Netter has made an enormous contribution that will continue into the future and has helped Penn become an even greater institution,” Harkavy said. “He was an extraordinarily warm, kind, creative human being… His leadership and his vision have helped make this work increasingly central to what Penn is about.”
Netter founded Netter International, Ltd. in 1971 and was Chairman of its successor, Geneve Corporation, a financial services holding company.
Netter is survived by his wife Barbara, daughter Vicki Fitzgerald and son Don, as well as his granddaughters, Arianna Nell and Samantha Charli.
Funeral services will be held at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel at 1076 Madison Ave.in New York at 11:30 a.m. today. Donations may be made to the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy at www.acgtfoundation.org.
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