This fund was created to accept gifts in memory of the Honorable Joseph B. Gildenhorn '51.
Joseph B. Gildenhorn ’51, a lawyer, real estate developer and former U.S. ambassador to Switzerland who generously supported the performing arts at the University of Maryland and established its Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies, died on Saturday, October 21, 2023. He was 94 years old.
Gildenhorn and his wife, Alma G. Gildenhorn ’53, have been longtime Washington, D.C.-area philanthropists, supporting the Kennedy Center, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Aspen Institute and the Sibley Institute of Bone and Joint Health, among others.
The Gildenhorns were founding members of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation’s board of trustees, and he served as its chair from 2008 to 2010. Joe was and Alma is an honorary trustee; she was also a co-chair of the university’s three comprehensive fundraising campaigns.
Should the Joseph B. Gildenhorn Memorial Fund reach minimum endowment level, it may become an endowed fund. The family of Joseph B. Gildenhorn will determine the purpose of the Joseph B. Gildenhorn Memorial Fund.
To read more about Gildenhorn's impact at the University of Maryland, click here.