Reuben Feinberg, 83, a renowned Chicago philanthropist whose extensive donations helped enhance Northwestern’s medical school and Northwestern Memorial Hospital, died Dec. 13 after complications resulting from a fall.
Feinberg contributed $75 million in February 2002 to the Feinberg School of Medicine. The fund, the largest single donation ever to a Chicago-area university, will be used to develop and recruit investigators and support research, according to Lewis Landsberg, Feinberg dean and vice president for medical affairs.
“He was a proud Chicagoan,” said Dianne Tesler, a longtime friend and former co-worker. “He was an excellent listener with a subtle sense of humor. He was a gracious and gentle person.”
Landsberg described Feinberg as “a man of wisdom and generosity” who consistently put “his money where his mouth was.”
After Feinberg was treated by three faculty members of the medical school at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in 1987, he felt compelled to give NU a series of donations.
After making the donation last winter, Feinberg joked to The Daily that “it was just by chance” that he gave it to NU. “If the ambulance driver (had) turned right rather than left, somebody else might have gotten the money,” he said.
Feinberg also donated $17 million in 1988, creating the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute. He contributed $10 million in 1996 to help establish the Frances Evelyn Feinberg Clinical Neurosciences Institute, named after his late wife, to research strokes and similar neurological disorders with the hope of developing treatments.
Extending his generosity to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Feinberg donated $15 million for the creation of the Feinberg Pavilion, an inpatient care facility with advanced equipment, which now acts as a centerpiece of the medical center.
“Mr. Feinberg was a warm and generous person whose extraordinary gifts support worthy causes that benefit the Chicago area and its citizens,” University President Henry Bienen said in a Dec. 13 press release. “Reuben Feinberg was a dear friend. He will be deeply missed by me and by the many others whose lives he touched.”
Feinberg extended his warm sense of humor to everyone as soon as he entered a room, Landsberg said. Feinberg moved to Chicago with his parents and three brothers, and later acted as president of the Jefferson State Bank in Chicago. He also served as vice chairman of the board of Parkway Bank and Trust in Harwood Heights, Ill.
To honor his family, who pioneered real-estate development near the Loop, Feinberg and his brothers established and supported the Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation, of which he served as president since its inception in 1969.
Feinberg had hoped the medical school would become No. 1 in the nation with the help of his donation — even if he was not around to see it.
“I may not be here, but (my name) may end up being famous,” he told The Daily.
A funeral service for Feinberg was held Dec. 16 at Piser Funeral Services in Arlington Heights, Ill. He was preceded in death by his wife and three brothers and has no immediate survivors.
