Temple Names Medical School for Lewis Katz

Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has officially named its medical school after the late Jewish-American businessman and philanthropist Lewis Katz.
The Lewis Katz School of Medicine debuted Tuesday in a naming ceremony held at Temple University, the university said in a statement. Friends of the university, as well as friends and relatives of the Katz family, gathered to commemorate Katz’s legacy and dedicate the building.
Katz’s children, Drew and Melissa, attended the ceremony, where they were presented with the vintage cast-iron owl that has adorned the front of the medical school building since 1930. U.S. Senators Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Robert Casey, D-Pa., also were in attendance.
A portrait of Katz by Italian artist Francesco Mernini, to be displayed in the lobby of the building, was unveiled.
The naming of the medical school follows Katz death in May 2014 in a private plane crash. Just before he died, Katz, who graduated from Temple University in 1963, announced he would be donating $25 million to the university, a gift designated for its medical school.
Katz supported his alma mater throughout his life, with donations and by serving on the university’s board of trustees. In 2014, he delivered an impassioned graduation speech in which he described Temple University as being “recognized, respected and loved by its alumni.”
“Lewis was an inspirational leader and a powerful force at Temple, and he will remain so,” Patrick O’Connor, chairman of Temple University’s Board of Trustees said in the statement. “Above all, he was a brilliant friend. With the naming of our medical school, we will remember and honor him eternally.”
Katz amassed his fortune by investing in parking lot and billboard companies. He went on to own two of New Jersey’s professional sports teams, the New Jersey Nets, the National Basketball Association team now based in Brooklyn, and the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils. At the time of his death he was also the co-owner of the daily newspaper, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.