Sidney J. Kimmel (born January 16, 1928) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and film producer. He is ranked number 2141 in the ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' list of the richest people alive in 2021.
[Forbes: The World's Billionaires – Sidney Kimmel]
April 2021
Personal life
Kimmel was born into a Jewish family in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, Pennsylvania, the son of a cab driver.
[About Sidney Kimmel]
Johns Hopkins Medicine, accessed on May 25, 2011 He attended
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptists, Baptist minister Russell Conwell an ...
.
[The World's Billionaires – #1014 Sidney Kimmel]
Forbes, 2011, accessed on November 9, 2011 He now lives in California with his wife Caroline Davis, the former wife of
Leonard Tose. Kimmel is featured on ''
Old Jews Telling Jokes''.
Kimmel and his wife bought
Johnny Carson
John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of '' The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' (1962–1992). Carson received six P ...
's former estate, a property that sits on the Point Dume promontory in Malibu, California, in 2007 for $46 million.
In 2017, they placed the property up for sale for $81.5 million.
They reduced the price to $65.2 million in August 2018.
Career
Kimmel founded
Jones Apparel Group
Nine West Holdings (formerly The Jones Group and Jones Apparel Group) is an American designer, marketer and wholesaler of branded clothing, shoes and accessories. In 2019, the company restructured under and is renamed Premier Brands Group Hol ...
in 1970 while working at
W. R. Grace and Company. Five years later, he purchased Jones Apparel Group with a partner. Notable lines produced by Kimmel include Jones New York, Evan-Picone, and
9 West; he also has licensing deals with
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren, ( ; ; born October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and billionaire businessman, best known for the Ralph Lauren Corporation, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He has become well known for his c ...
. He stepped down as chief executive officer of Jones in 2002 and sold most of his shares in the publicly traded company, but remained chairman of the board of directors until the sale of the company to Sycamore Partners in 2014. Kimmel funded the erotic drama ''
9½ Weeks''. He owns art, real estate, a film production company
Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, and a small stake in the professional
NBA basketball team
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...
.
Sidney Kimmel Entertainment
Founded in 2004, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment (SKE) is a Los Angeles-based production, finance and distribution company headed by Kimmel. Films produced include SKE and
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
' 2010 remake ''
Death at a Funeral'', ''
The Kite Runner'' (2007), ''
United 93'', ''
Breach'', ''
Lars and the Real Girl'',
''Adventureland'', ''
Death at a Funeral'', ''
Synecdoche, New York
''Synecdoche, New York'' (pronounced ) is a 2008 American postmodern psychological drama film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman in his directorial debut. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as an ailing theater director who works on an inc ...
'', ''
Gone
Gone may refer to:
Grammar
* Gone, the past participle of go (verb)
** Have gone or have been, contrasting verb forms in some contexts
Arts, entertainment, and media Film
* ''Gone'', a 2002 a thriller written, directed by and starring Tim Chey
...
'' (2012), ''
The Place Beyond the Pines'' (2012) and ''
The Age of Adaline''.
Philanthropy
Kimmel is an active philanthropist with an emphasis on healthcare, education, arts and culture. His goal is to donate $1 billion in total throughout his lifetime.
[The $1 billion man](_blank)
Philadelphia Business Journal, accessed December 28, 2010.[Sidney Kimmel's Philanthropy page](_blank)
Faces of Philanthropy, accessed December 28, 2010.
In 1993, Kimmel founded the
Sidney Kimmel Foundation
Sidney may refer to:
People
* Sidney (surname), English surname
* Sidney (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Sidney (footballer, born 1972), full name Sidney da Silva Souza, Brazilian football defensive midfielder
* Si ...
. The foundation's Cancer Research division pledged to contribute $120 million to institutions serving healthcare, education, arts and culture. Later, in 2001, the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research donated $150 million to
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...
. The donation became the largest single gift ever received by the University, and was directed toward the development of a residence for cancer patients undergoing extended treatment. The gift inspired the university to name the residence the
Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. In total Kimmel has his name attached to four separate cancer-research centers in Philadelphia, New York, San Diego and Baltimore.
The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at
Johns Hopkins Hospital
The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 ...
as well as the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is the flagship hospital of Jefferson Health, a multi-state non-profit health system based in Philadelphia. The hospital serves as the teaching hospital for Thomas Jefferson University.
History
Originally fo ...
carry his name. The Jefferson Medical College was renamed the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of
Thomas Jefferson University
Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. To signify its heritage, the unive ...
in June 2014, following a $110 million grant from the Sidney Kimmel Foundation, the fifth-largest ever gift to a medical school.
["Kimmel donates $110M to Jefferson" – Philadelphia Inquirer 18-Jun-2014]
/ref> As of April 2003, Kimmel and the Sidney Kimmel Foundation had donated an estimated $400 million.
Kimmel has also contributed over $35 million to the center for the performing arts in Philadelphia, which is now named The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and is home to the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscripti ...
. Other contributions from Kimmel include a $5 million donation to The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia; a $20 million donation to Raymond and Ruth Perelman Jewish Day School in Philadelphia and $25 million for the establishment of a new prostate and urological cancer center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...
in New York. In 2003 Kimmel pledged $25 million to The National Museum of American Jewish History
The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History (The Weitzman) is a Smithsonian-affiliated museum at 101 South Independence Mall East (S. 5th Street) at Market Street in Center City Philadelphia. It was founded in 1976.
History
With ...
in Philadelphia. The construction was said to have cost in total $100 million, and opened in 2006 on the museum's existing site facing Independence Mall.Announcements
National Museum of American Jewish History
The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History (The Weitzman) is a Smithsonian-affiliated museum at 101 South Independence Mall East (S. 5th Street) at Market Street in Center City Philadelphia. It was founded in 1976.
History
With ...
, accessed on December 28, 2010. Kimmel donated $25 million to
Stand Up To Cancer
Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) is a charitable program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF). SU2C aims to raise significant funds for translational cancer research through online and televised efforts. Central to the program is a telethon th ...
.
Support for cold fusion research
Kimmel has given $5.5 million to the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded ...
to create the Sidney Kimmel Institute for Nuclear Renaissance, SKINR, where researchers will ''"figure out why excess heat has been observed when
hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...
or
deuterium
Deuterium (or hydrogen-2, symbol or deuterium, also known as heavy hydrogen) is one of two Stable isotope ratio, stable isotopes of hydrogen (the other being Hydrogen atom, protium, or hydrogen-1). The atomic nucleus, nucleus of a deuterium ato ...
interacts with materials such as
palladium
Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself nam ...
,
nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...
or
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Pla ...
under extreme conditions."'', Originally named "
cold fusion," nowadays the name
low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR) is also used.
["Billionaire helps fund MU energy research" – Columbia Tribune 10-Feb-2012]
/ref>
Filmography
He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.
Film
;Miscellaneous crew
Television
References
External links
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center
*
Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimmel, Sidney
1928 births
Living people
American billionaires
American film producers
Jewish American philanthropists
American philanthropists
Giving Pledgers
21st-century philanthropists
Cold fusion
American film production company founders
Film producers from Pennsylvania
Businesspeople from Philadelphia
21st-century American Jews