Education Funding

Philanthropist Remembered For Generosity to Education

By Caroline Hendrie — October 09, 2002 4 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Walter H. Annenberg, who died last week at age 94, built a lucrative media empire, played host to presidents and princes, and established two respected schools of communications that bear his name. But he will best be remembered among educators for record-setting philanthropic efforts aimed at promoting improvement of the nation’s public schools.

Mr. Annenberg’s death on Oct. 1 came at a time when experts are still assessing the legacy of his five-year, $500 million grant to American public education unveiled in late 1993, known as the Annenberg Challenge. Its flagship effort was a series of major grants to improve schools in nine urban areas, including Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.

As tributes to Mr. Annenberg as publisher, diplomat, and philanthropist poured forth last week, a university administrator tapped to speak on behalf of his foundation voiced frustration that the purpose of that highly publicized gift had not been fully understood. The Annenberg Challenge, which included efforts to invigorate rural and arts education as well as urban schools, has been criticized by some observers as a missed opportunity. (“Annenberg Challenge Yields Lessons for Those Hoping to Change Schools,” June 12, 2002.)

“The story tends to be written as if Walter Annenberg went in and tried to fix American public schools with $500 million, and that is not what he did,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Instead, she said, Mr. Annenberg deliberately structured his gift as a series of “challenge grants” requiring recipients to raise large sums, typically twice as much as the grants themselves, from other sources. The idea, Ms. Jamieson said, was to mobilize communities to ratchet up their own investments in public schools.

“He didn’t expect that he could fix public education,” she said. “He expected that the country could find a way to address the problems in what he viewed as a vital democratic institution.”

Praised for Largess

The Annenberg Challenge was the best-known of a series of large donations to precollegiate and higher education made by Mr. Annenberg during the course of a career highlighted by a stint as the U.S. ambassador to Britain from 1969 to 1974 and close friendships with Presidents Nixon and Reagan.

He was a major backer of educational television, underwriting projects by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that included an initiative launched in 1991 to provide mathematics and science instruction in elementary and secondary schools. Today, the Annenberg CPB Channel, broadcast free via satellite, offers round-the-clock instructional programming in all academic subjects to schools across the country.

Education is the leading beneficiary of the St. David’s, Pa.-based Annenberg Foundation, which the publisher set up to pursue his far-reaching philanthropic interests. Last year, for example, education made up its largest single grantmaking category, claiming 116 of a total of 304 grants, or $95.6 million out of $177.6 million, according to the foundation’s Web site.

Mr. Annenberg’s generosity drew many words of praise last week as word circulated of his death from complications of pneumonia at his home outside Philadelphia.

Vartan Gregorian, a former president of Brown University, called him “one of the most inspiring and visionary philanthropists I’ve had the honor of knowing and serving.” Mr. Gregorian, who is now the president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, worked closely with Mr. Annenberg to help shape the challenge, which included a $50 million donation in 1993 to a then-fledgling school improvement center that is now the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown, in Providence, R.I.

“Two things he used to say capture a sense of his character: ‘My country has been very good to me. I must be good to my country,’ and ‘I have always tried to support things that were essential, and few things are as essential as education,’” Mr. Gregorian said in a statement.

At the Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J., Head of School John Green expressed his gratitude for Mr. Annenberg’s landmark $100 million gift to the private college-preparatory school in 1993. During a schoolwide gathering in the campus chapel Oct. 1, Mr. Green recalled that the philanthropist had returned to the school often since graduating in 1927.

“From all accounts, Mr. Annenberg loved Peddie students, and he frequently stopped to speak with them—even play hackeysack with them—at his often unannounced visits,” the headmaster said.

Mr. Annnenberg, who was born in Milwaukee, ended his own formal schooling when he dropped out of the University of Pennsylvania after a year to join the publishing company founded by his father. In addition to The Philadelphia Inquirer and ThePhiladelphia Daily News, Triangle Publications published Seventeen and TV Guide magazines, and owned various TV and radio stations. Mr. Annenberg gradually sold off the company’s holdings, a process completed in 1988.

Reg Weaver, the president of the National Education Association, called him “a true friend of education,” while Sandra Feldman, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, cited the success of the Annenberg-financed Center for Arts Education in New York City as a particular bright spot.

“It literally brought arts education back to the New York City schools,” she said. “If he had done nothing else, that would have been a great legacy.”

Related Tags:

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Student Well-Being Webinar
Creating Resilient Schools with a Trauma-Responsive MTSS
Join us to learn how school leaders are building a trauma-responsive MTSS to support students & improve school outcomes.
School & District Management Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: We Can’t Engage Students If They Aren’t Here: Strategies to Address the Absenteeism Conundrum
Absenteeism rates are growing fast. Join Peter DeWitt and experts to learn how to re-engage students & families.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Funding States Get Antsy as Education Department Layoffs Delay Millions for Schools
Reimbursements for federal education aid are weeks late, according to state chiefs.
7 min read
Illustration of a clock and it's shadow is an hourglass with the symbol of money in the sand.
DigitalVision Vectors
Education Funding What the Latest Federal Funding Law Means for Schools
The new federal spending resolution leaves the door open for continued disruption to federal education funding.
6 min read
Broken and repaired: 3D symbol of a Dollar.
Education Week and Getty
Education Funding Trump Admin. Ordered to Temporarily Restore Teacher-Prep Grants in 8 States
A federal judge chided the Trump administration for offering what amounted to "no explanation at all" for terminating the grants.
4 min read
California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks at a press conference to announce a lawsuit against the Trump administration over budget cuts to teaching training funds, at the Ronald Reagan Federal Building on Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Los Angeles.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta announces a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the cancellation of teacher-training grants on March 6, 2025, in Los Angeles. A judge on March 10 ordered the temporary reinstatement of the funds in California and seven other states.
Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times via TNS
Education Funding Trump Axed $400M in Funds for Columbia. Could a School District Be Next?
One legal expert described the move as arbitrary: “How can you predict what arbitrary punishment may come your way?"
7 min read
Student protesters gather inside their encampment on Columbia University campus on April 29, 2024.
Student protesters gather inside an encampment on the Columbia University campus on April 29, 2024. The federal government has terminated $400 million in funds to the Ivy League university although investigations into alleged antisemitic harassment are continuing.
Stefan Jeremiah/AP