Frequent Penn donor Ronald O. Perelman donates $65 million to Princeton for new residence hall

Frequent Penn donor Ronald O. Perelman and his daughter Debra Perelman, who graduated from Princeton in 1996, are giving Princeton University $65 million to build a new residential college.

Princeton is aiming to expand its undergraduate class by around 10 percent, and the new residential college, which will be named Perelman College in their honor, will be built to accommodate the growth. The university hopes to admit more first-generation, low-income students and plans to expand each class by 125 students. Princeton announced the donation in a Dec. 5 press release. 

It will be Princeton’s seventh residential college and the first built in more than 15 years.

“People of all backgrounds and communities deserve access to the extraordinary education and training offered by Princeton and all the wonderful opportunities afforded its graduates," Ronald O. Perelman, who is also a 1964 Wharton graduate, said in the press release.

Many buildings on Penn’s campus bear the Perelman name, including the Perelman Quadrangle.

Most recently, the Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics opened this semester following a $25 million donation from Ronald O. Perelman in 2013.

In May 2011, Ronald O. Perelman’s parents, Ruth Perelman and 1940 Wharton graduate Raymond Perelman, donated $225 million to Penn Medicine. The donation constituted the largest gift to a U.S. medical school in history and resulted in the school being renamed the “Perelman School of Medicine.”

Despite the family's close ties to Penn, the Perelman Family Foundation has also previously donated to Princeton. The Perelmans gave $5 million to the school in 1995 to establish the Ronald O. Perelman Institute for Judaic Studies. 

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the Institute of Contemporary Art bore the Perelman name. The DP regrets the error.