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history. “The Irvings have been inspirational donors in and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center,
building the Museum’s collections and galleries of Asian among others. They were justifably proud of the bonds
Art since 1987,” said Met President and CEO Daniel they held with Columbia and its medical professionals.
Weiss. “We are profoundly grateful to the Irvings for “This is a relationship that has endured for many years
their tremendous generosity and vision.” and has been very important to us,” the Irvings stated.
“We are honored to be associated in this way with these
FRIENDS AND MENTORS great institutions and the special people who make
In their betterment of the New York community, them what they are.”
Florence and Herbert Irving came to stand proudly in
the annals of American philanthropy. With humility and By the time of Mr. Irving’s passing in 2016, he was the
cheer, they worked tirelessly to elevate individuals from largest donor in the history of New York-Presbyterian/
all walks of life, and to encourage others to foster their Columbia University Medical Center—a designation
own dedication to civic life. Together, the Irvings would that, beyond its extraordinary benevolence, signifed a
pursue a massive philanthropic undertaking totaling deep and abiding belief in helping others. The following
over $1 billion in support to the Metropolitan Museum year, Florence Irving announced that her husband had
of Art, Columbia University Medical Center, and New left an additional gift of more than $700 million to the
York-Presbyterian Hospital, among other causes. institution in his will, a donation that will reverberate
across generations of patients and researchers. It is
Across nearly three decades of patronage, Florence telling that, whenever the Irvings spoke of Columbia
and Herbert Irving became the largest benefactors of and New York-Presbyterian, it was in terms of
New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical friendships, relationships, and people. For the couple,
Center, where their name can be found in association the institution’s doctors, nurses, researchers, and staf
with numerous professorships, faculty chairs, and had become “adopted family,” said a Columbia oficial.
clinical and research facilities, including the landmark “Just as Alice Boney served as my parents’ tutor in Asian
Columbia University Irving Medical Center. The couple’s art,” Ron Irving observed, “their doctor friends were
relationship with the institution began, much like tutors for what mattered most in healthcare.”
their journey in art, through friendship. A close family
friend who was a doctor introduced the Irvings to THE IRVING LEGACY
Columbia, and Mr. Irving eventually underwent medical When Florence Irving passed away in 2018, she and
treatment at the hospital. “I felt a deep obligation to the her husband were honored as two of New York’s
institution,” he later explained, “with its talented doctors most treasured civic leaders and philanthropists. The
and nurses.” The Irvings’ frst major gifts to Columbia Irvings’ inspiring trajectory—from modest Brooklyn
came in the late 1980s—fnancial support that set the roots to the pinnacle of entrepreneurial success—
institution on course to become a national leader in allowed them to build a better, more enlightened world.
clinical research and treatment. In their giving, the couple sought to elevate men and
women from all backgrounds, and to share with others
The Irvings enabled Columbia to evolve into one of the Asian art that had so enriched their lives. “We have
the world’s foremost medical institutions. Throughout enjoyed the activity of collecting as much as we have
the 1990s and into the 2000s, the couple amplifed savored living with these works of art,” they wrote upon
their connection to Columbia via personal leadership their frst bequest to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
and successive major gifts, endowing initiatives “Now the pleasure is ours of sharing our collection with
including the Irving Center for Clinical and Translational the public.” This generous vision, built upon a loving
Research; the Florence and Herbert Irving Clinical partnership of over seventy-fve years, will forever
Research Career Awards, known as the Irving Scholars; defne the Irving legacy.

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