Philip and Muriel Berman were American art collectors, philanthropists, and the founders of the Berman Art Museum at

Ursinus College Ursinus College is a private liberal arts college in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1869 and occupies a 170-acre campus. History 19th century In 1867, members of the German Reformed Church began plans to establish a college wh ...

in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Phillip was the chairman of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Muriel was an honorary member of the board. They endowed many Jewish charities including Hadassah as well commissioning and funding the "Philip and Muriel Berman sculpture park" in Allentown, Pennsylvania where they resided. Phil made his fortune with a trucking empire and later as the owner of the department store chain

Hess's Hess's was a department store chain based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company started in 1897 with one store, originally known as Hess Brothers, and grew to nearly 80 stores by its peak in the late 1980s. The chain's stores were closed or sol ...

headquartered in Allentown. Muriel Berman was an optometrist.

Philip

Philip Berman (June 28, 1915 - November 26, 1997) acquired the

department stores in 1968. He graduated from

in Collegeville, Pennsylvania and later founded the eponymous "Berman Art Museum" there with his wife Muriel with a large gift from their own personal collection. He ;ater became chairman of the board of trustees of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Muriel

Muriel Mallin Berman (b. in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

- d. April 13, 2004) was an optometrist and philanthropist, and the co-founder of the Berman Art Museum at

. She studied at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

and what is now Carnegie Mellon University, and graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry. In 1975, she was a delegate to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

International Women's Year International Women's Year (IWY) was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations. Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day, and the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1976 to 1985, was also established. Histo ...

Conference held in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. She kept her optometrist's licence until the 1980s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berman, Philip and Muriel American philanthropists American art collectors Artists from Allentown, Pennsylvania