Bill Gates has found a philanthropic disciple: William Louis-Dreyfus, billionaire and father of Seinfeld‘s Julia Louis-Dreyfus. who has decided to sell his art collection. Louis-Dreyfus won’t give his collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art or MoMA, according to Artforum. Instead he’ll give the proceeds from the sale to the Harlem Children’s Zone, after having seen a 60 Minutes profile on the organization a few years ago. That means about $50 million in a collection that features the work of Abstract Expressionist painter Helen Frankenthaler, and other worthies.
It’s doubtless a great cause: Over the past two decades, the Harlem Children’s Zone has steadily increased the students it annually serves (26,989), annually sends to college (92 percent, or 954 and counting) and annually sees graduate from college (100). Based in NYC, covering a 97-block radius, HRC’s aim is to provide “comprehensive, critical support to children and families and reweaving the very fabric of community life” by using a “cradle-to-college” method that gives youngsters dealing with seemingly intractable and hopeless circumstances a chance at success.
