2021 Spotlight Gala @ Home Journal

spotlightgala@home
The Cooperman Family Arts Education and Community Center on the NJPAC campus,
made possible by a founding gift from the family, is slated to open in 2024. This new
building on Center Street will be a purpose-built home for the Arts Center’s many
existing arts training programs in dance, hip hop arts and culture, jazz and
instrumental music. It will also offer arts programs for preschoolers, seniors and
adults; a forum for free community engagement programs; space for the creation of
new arts education programs and arts integration initiatives; and professional
rehearsal studios for the creation of new work.
After 25 years at Goldman, he left
to start his own firm, the hedge fund
Omega Investors. Lee, famous for
his 12-hour work days, became
“the James Brown of hedge funds —
the hardest working man in
the industry,” as his friend, and
Seabreeze Partners Management
founder Doug Kass, told CNBC.
At Omega, he had more than $3
billion in assets under management,
much of it his own funds. His insights
into the market yielded remarkable
returns for his investors until 2018,
when he converted Omega into
a family office.
From a boy of the South Bronx to
a billionaire: Lee’s life story is a
real-life Horatio Alger tale. (And he
is in fact a member of the Horatio
Alger Association, which strives to
help young people advance through
scholarships and education.)
But where Alger would have ended
the narrative with his plucky hero
achieving his wildest dreams, that’s
only the first part of Lee’s story.
Toby, a teacher who worked as a
learning disabilities specialist at
the ELLC, a special needs school
in Chatham, for many years, had
already devoted her career to
helping others. When their good
fortune allowed them to lend a
helping hand to those in need,
philanthropy became a shared
passion for both Toby and Lee.
In 2010, they signed the Giving
Pledge, joining the group of
billionaires, formed by Bill Gates
and Warren Buffet, who commit to
giving the majority of their wealth
to charitable concerns. “It was
written in the Talmud that ‘A man’s
net worth is measured not by what
he earns, but rather what he gives
away,’ ” Toby and Lee noted in an
open letter declaring their intention
to join the group.
Both before and after they signed
the Pledge, the Cooperman family’s
generosity has been extraordinary.
While their philanthropy has
prioritized education, health, the
arts and Jewish life, the Cooperman
family has advanced innumerable
efforts – the JCC and Daughters of
Israel, among others.
After founding Omega
Advisors, Cooperman
became known as
“the James Brown of
hedge funds — the
hardest working man
in the industry.”
They supported their alma
mater, Hunter College, with tens
of millions in scholarships to
current students, and funding
for a new library. They presented
Columbia Business School with
millions towards a new campus —
plus more for an endowed chair
in economics, and funding for
need-based scholarships.
They funded the Cooperman
Family Pavilion at Saint Barnabas
Medical Center in Livingston,
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