Mourning the Passing of Raymond G. Perelman


January 15, 2019

To:Penn Medicine Community

From:J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD
Ralph W. Muller


Today, Penn Medicine is mourning the loss of Raymond G. Perelman, one of its most significant and committed partners in improving health — here on our campus, throughout the City of Philadelphia and beyond. Through his peerless generosity and deep and abiding engagement, Penn has become an even greater global force in patient care, research, and medical education.

With his beloved wife, the late Ruth Caplan Perelman, Ray made a historic $225 million gift creating a permanent endowment for the School of Medicine, which was renamed the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in May 2011.

The state-of-the-art Ruth and Raymond Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine, created thanks to the couple’s $25 million gift, opened in 2008. The facility has become a global model for patient-centered, compassionate health care—a wonderful extension of the Perelmans’ own dedication to improving the lives of others. Ruth and Ray also established the first endowed professorship devoted to an active, full-time clinician.

Ray was a powerful advocate for all of Penn Medicine’s missions, from serving on its Board of Trustees to hosting events in his home in Palm Beach. In recent years, Ray could be seen on campus or at medical school events like graduation and the celebration of the Perelman School of Medicine’s 250th birthday. He particularly enjoyed meeting Penn’s incoming medical students.

He was a constant inspiration to the Penn and Philadelphia communities through his work with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Kimmel Center and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, to name a few of the institutions with which he was passionately engaged. Please join us in honoring his many contributions and generosity of spirit as we work together on the path he helped us pave. His legacy will endure in each domain of our work for generations.

To learn more about Ray Perelman’s remarkable life, please visit the Penn Medicine Tribute page at www.pennmedicine.org/perelmantribute.