He's the man behind Harvard's newly-renovated athletic center.

Peter L. Malkin '55 donated $4 million to give a new face to the more than 50-year-old sports facility across from Lowell House--now appropriately called the Malkin Athletic Center.

Former Harvard President Derek C. Bok and the previous Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Henry Rosovsky '53 "asked if my wife and I would bring it back to good health," Malkin says.

The renovations have just been completed, leaving the center with a new pool, roof, windows and workout room

Though happy with the Stairmasters, the University was in search of more. So it turned back to Malkin for fundraising help before the public announcement of its $2.1 billion capital campaign.

At the start of fundraising campaign, Harvard paid the major donor a personal visit, part of its effort to raise 25 percent of its goal before the campaign officially began.

Malkin, an attorney at Wien & Malkin, agreed to work on the campaign as a chair for the Kennedy School of Government's effort and a member of the campaign's executive committee.

He's no novice at fundraising. For years, he has chaired class giving committees for the Law School and the College.

Malkin, who graduated from the Law School in 1958 and the College in 1955, says his own experiences with interesting teaching fellows and eccentric students has prompted him to enhance current students' lives.

"I was very fortunate to have fascinating opportunities with faculty," says Malkin, who concentrated in government.

His teaching fellows included Weatherhead University Professor Samuel P. Huntington and former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger.

Over the course of the campaign Malkin has also endowed a chair in public policy and donated money for classrooms at the Law School and at the Kennedy School.

He has nothing but praise for the University he calls "the greatest in the world."

"It's been an absolutely wonderful opportunity from the time I entered College until today," Malkin says.