Wharton's Campaign for Sustained Leadership, which identifies increasing faculty support as a top priority, was greatly bolstered through two new commitments. Longtime Penn supporter, Joseph J. Aresty, W'43, made a new $2 million gift to establish the Joseph J. Aresty Endowed Professorship in Strategic Management. A $2 million commitment from Wharton Overseer Ira A. Lipman, chairman and president of Guardsmark, Inc., created the Guardsmark Endowed Professorship. Both gifts will foster faculty excellence, which, says Wharton Dean Patrick Harker, "helps Wharton remain on the leading edge of business education."

The Veterinary School's new Teaching and Research Building, which will be built adjacent to the Veterinary School complex in Philadelphia, received three new gifts. The Connelly Foundation awarded the project a $1.5 million grant; the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation pledged $1 million, which will be directed to support laboratories for the Center for Animal Transgenesis and Germ Cell Research; and the Diane Lenfest Myer Foundation provided a $500,000 contribution.

A $500,000 gift from the Estate of Virginia Brown has established the Virginia Brown Fellowship for Aging and Stroke Research at the University of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Brown, who actively supported a number of charities and civic organizations during her lifetime, had a particular interest in medical research related to the needs of the elderly. She shared this commitment with her husband, Richard P. Brown, Jr., Esq., an emeritus trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Advisory Board of Penn's Institute on Aging.

Martha Connelly Leitner, CW'76

Staying close to Penn... "The recent tragic events here in New York have reminded me to stay close to those things most dear to me. My education at Penn has always been a great advantage to me. I am grateful for having had the opportunity to receive a first-rate education at Penn, and I would like to make a meaningful gift that would affect the education of other young women." -- Martha Connelly Leitner, CW'76

Martha Connelly Leitner pledged $100,000 to Penn in honor of her father, John P. Connelly, Jr., W'47, and in recognition of her 25th Class Reunion and the Celebration of 125 Years of Women at Penn.

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