Claremont McKenna College Receives $75 Million Gift From The Marie-Josee and Henry...

Claremont McKenna College Receives $75 Million Gift From The Marie-Josee and Henry R. Kravis Foundation

CLAREMONT, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Claremont McKenna College today announced a landmark gift of $75
million from The Marie-Josee and Henry R. Kravis Foundation. In
recognition of this gift, the College will designate its new signature
building as The Kravis Center.

Scheduled for completion in 2010, The Kravis Center is designed by
renowned architect Rafael Vinoly and will provide a dramatic new
entrance to the Claremont McKenna campus. The Kravis Center will house
state-of-the-art classrooms, five of the College's 10 research
institutes, faculty offices, and the Office of Admission and Financial
Aid, as well as provide numerous opportunities for informal gatherings
through a series of exterior terraces and a center courtyard.

"I have been the beneficiary of so much from Claremont McKenna, as
a turning point in my education and in preparing me for life," Henry
Kravis said. "Marie-Josee and I consider it both a responsibility and
a privilege to support the College through this gift."

"The splendid new Kravis Center will become both the literal and
symbolic heart of our institution, providing a dramatic gateway to the
Claremont McKenna campus and the CMC experience through beautifully
rendered spaces," said Claremont McKenna President Pamela Gann. "In
addition, the new building reflects the College's ongoing commitment
to environmentally responsible, sustainable design, and will be
certified at LEED Silver designation or higher," she said.

The Kravis Foundation gift, which is unrestricted as to use, was
announced just three months following the launch of The Campaign for
Claremont McKenna, a five-year, $600 million capital campaign that is
the largest ever undertaken by a liberal arts college. In September,
the College announced the largest recorded gift to a liberal arts
college of $200 million from alumnus Robert Day, Trust Company of the
West founder and a CMC trustee.

"Henry's exceptional leadership once again sets a high standard
for our CMC community to follow," said Harry McMahon, Chair of the
Claremont McKenna College Board of Trustees and a 1975 alumnus. "The
importance of the new Kravis Center has already stimulated a
meaningful gift from CMC Trustees and also has provided a rallying
focus for our alumni, the sort of focus that is critical to the
success of our ambitious capital campaign."

Henry R. Kravis, a 1967 graduate of the College, is a member of
the CMC Board of Trustees. He earned an M.B.A. from Columbia
University before beginning his career as vice president of Katy
Industries, and later as a partner at Bear Stearns & Co. In 1976,
Kravis joined with his cousin, George Roberts (CMC Class of 1966 and
also a trustee of the College), and Jerome Kohlberg, to found Kohlberg
Kravis Roberts & Co.

Kravis has a long and distinguished partnership with Claremont
McKenna. Elected to the Board of Trustees in 1987, he actively
promotes leadership and education through the establishment of the
Henry R. Kravis Chair in Leadership and Organizational Psychology and
the Henry R. Kravis Research Chair in Leadership Studies.

He founded the Kravis Leadership Institute in 1993 to strengthen
CMC's core mission of educating leaders. The Institute encompasses a
strong educational program of leadership studies, a diverse research
program, and the Kravis Mentoring Program. The institute also hosts
national conferences, workshops, outreach programs, and a
distinguished speaker series.

Kravis is founder and chairman of the New York City Investment
Fund for Economic Development, former co-chair of the Partnership for
New York City, co-chair of the board of advisors at Columbia
University Graduate School of Business, vice-chairman of Rockefeller
University, and a member of the board of the Council on Foreign
Relations, and Mount Sinai Hospital. Marie-Josee Kravis, an economist
and a senior fellow of the Hudson Institute, serves as president of
the Museum of Modern Art and a member of the Council on Foreign
Relations.

In 2006, Mr. and Mrs. Kravis founded The Henry R. Kravis Prize in
Leadership, an annual prize which recognizes extraordinary
accomplishments and leadership in the nonprofit sector. Recipients
include Roy L. Prosterman, founder and chairman emeritus of the Rural
Development Institute; Fazle Abed, founder of BRAC (Bangladesh Rural
Advancement Committee); and The Forum for African Women
Educationalists (FAWE).

Rafael Vinoly Architects PC is a critically acclaimed
international practice with headquarters in New York and offices in
London and Los Angeles. Driven by the conviction that the essential
responsibility of architecture is to elevate the public realm,
Vinoly's work has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards and
in the world's leading design publications. The Kravis Center will be
the firm's third California project, following buildings at the
University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of
California, San Francisco.

Claremont McKenna College is a highly selective, independent
liberal arts college educating leaders in business, the professions,
and public affairs. Consistently ranked among the nation's top liberal
arts colleges, Claremont McKenna College is a member of The Claremont
Colleges consortium in Claremont, California.

Claremont McKenna College
Evie Lazzarino, (909) 607-9099 (direct)
(909) 921-8438 (mobile)

Copyright Business Wire 2008