Dorothy Cullman#Philanthropy

Born Dorothy Freedman in Manhattan, New York, she was the daughter of William and Lois Freedman. In her early years, she modeled for Saks Fifth Avenue and studied drama. She attended Rollins College in the 1930s for two years. After attending college, she returned to New York where she married Charles Benenson in 1942.{{Cite news|title=Dorothy Cullman, Patron of City Institutions, Dies at 91|date=April 7, 2009|author=Dennis Hevesi|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/nyregion/08cullman.html?partner=rss&emc=rss|work=The New York Times}} They were later divorced, and she remarried in 1963 to Lewis B. Cullman.

Lewis B. Cullman was a scion to the family that owned the Benson & Hedges and Philip Morris tobacco companies, as were his brothers, Joseph Cullman and Edgar M. Cullman. He studied meteorology at New York University before joining the Navy in World War II, where he continued doing weather forecasting, and after the war started a weather service in New England. Cullman married Thais MacBride in 1942. They divorced in 1957. Reluctant to join the family tobacco business, he would ultimately found Cullman Ventures, which invested in start-up companies. He pocketed $300 million when he sold the company in 1999.

Both Cullman and Freedman were raising funds for the World Federation for Mental Health when they met.{{Cite news|title=Arts and Education Patron Dorothy Cullman Dies at 91|date=April 8, 2009|work=The Chronicle of Philanthropy|url=http://philanthropy.com/news/philanthropytoday/7785/arts-and-education-patron-dorothy-cullman-dies-at-91}}

The Cullmans donated a combined $250 million to a number of organizations in support of the arts, science and education. Beneficiaries included the American Museum of Natural History, the New York Botanical Gardens, Mount Sinai Medical Center and Yale University. In 2000, the Cullmans donated $10 million to the Neurosciences Institute.{{Cite web|title=Noted benefactors make $10 million Challenge gift to The Neurosciences Institute|publisher=The Neurosciences Institute|url=http://www.nsi.edu/index.php?page=press_releases_8 |date=August 7, 2000}} In 2001, they donated $1 million to the Parrish Art Museum to support an additional curator for the organization.{{Cite web|title=$1 Million for Parrish|date=December 19, 2001|url=http://www.artnet.com/magazine/news/artnetnews/artnetnews12-19-01.asp |publisher=Artnet}} In addition to their monetary donations, they also donated several pieces of art to the Museum of Modern Art. On November 28, 2006, a new building built by the Museum of Modern Art was opened, which was named after the Cullmans.{{Cite news|title=New research center spotlights history of MoMA's legendary works|date=November 29, 2006|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2006-11-29-moma-research-center_x.htm|first=David|last=Minthorn}}

When discussing contributions to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at the Lincoln Center, Cullman said that funds were given honoring Brooke Astor, "to recognize her enormous contributions to poetry, the library and New York".{{Cite news|title=A Well-Matched Pair, Giving Money With an Intellectual Fervor|author=Judith Miller|date=February 3, 1997|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/03/arts/a-well-matched-pair-giving-money-with-an-intellectual-fervor.html | accessdate=May 1, 2010}} Dorothy Cullman was responsible for devising what became a humanities center in the library, supported by 15 scholars and annual funding for research.

During her lifetime, she served on the boards of the American Academy in Rome, the American Museum of Natural History, the Enterprise Foundation's New York Committee, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and the New York Public Library .{{Cite web|publisher=Human Rights Watch|date=April 8, 2009|accessdate=April 10, 2009|title=A Tribute to Dorothy Cullman|url=https://www.hrw.org/en/sites/default/files/imagecache/scale-300x/media/images/photographs/dcullman.jpg}} Dorothy Cullman contributed to WNET, supporting several arts-related programs on shows such as Great Performances and American Masters.{{Cite web|title=Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman|url=http://press.moma.org/images/press/ed_center/Cullman_Bio.pdf|publisher=Museum of Modern Art|author=Museum of Modern Art - Department of Communications|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100708065534/http://press.moma.org/images/press/ed_center/Cullman_Bio.pdf|archivedate=July 8, 2010|df=mdy-all}}{{Cite web|publisher=PBS|title=In Memoriam - Dorothy Cullman|date=April 9, 2009|url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/announcements/in-memoriam/dorothy-cullman/635/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423002017/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/announcements/in-memoriam/dorothy-cullman/635/|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 23, 2009}}

Dorothy Cullman died on April 6, 2009, of a brain injury, prompted by an earlier fall she had suffered.{{Cite web|publisher=ARTINFO|date=April 8, 2009|title=Arts Philanthropist Dorothy Cullman Dies at 91|url=http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/31028/arts-philanthropist-dorothy-cullman-dies-at-91/}} In 2010, Lewis Cullman married Louise Kerz Hirschfeld, the widow of Al Hirschfeld, an American caricaturist. He died in 2019 at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut at age 100.

• Howard S. Cullman

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.lewiscullman.com/ Lewis B. Cullman's Website]
• {{IMDb name|0191616}}
• [http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.2072 Lewis B. Cullman Papers (MS 2072).] Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cullman, Dorothy}}

Category:Television producers from New York City

Category:American women television producers

Category:2009 deaths

Category:1918 births

Category:Mass media people from Manhattan

Category:Rollins College alumni

Category:Philanthropists from New York (state)

Category:20th-century American philanthropists

Category:Cullman family

Category:20th-century American women

Category:21st-century American women