CORRECTION APPENDED

Five decades after he started campaigning for a “New Boston,” the lawyer-developer turned philanthropist Jerome L. Rappaport ’47 continued his effort Wednesday with a $12.35 million donation from his charitable foundation to Harvard’s Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston.

Rappaport announced his gift, which creates a permanent endowment for the institute that bears his name, at Boston City Hall. Outgoing University President Lawrence H. Summers and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino were present, along with members of Rappaport’s family.

“The endowment of the Rappaport Institute will ensure that the city of Boston and Harvard continue to learn from one another,” Menino said, according to a press release from the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), where the institute is housed.

David E. Luberoff, executive director at the Institute, told The Crimson the Rappaport hopes “to leverage the money and also the network that we have created for significant new research opportunities.”

The Institute sponsored a study this year, conducted by Glimp Professor of Economics Edward L. Glaeser, that led to a conference on affordable housing in May.

In the six years since it was founded, the Institute has also offered 12 paid public-service internships. [CORRECTION APPENDED]

Lesa Lessard Pearson, executive director of the Jerome Lyle Rappaport Charitable Foundation, identified the $12.35 million donation as the largest single gift to the Rappaport Institute to date. The gift raised the total amount donated by the Foundation to the Kennedy School above $15 million.

Rappaport, a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and the Kennedy School, first became involved in politics through John B. Hynes’s 1950 mayoral campaign. After that, he created the New Boston Committee with the goal of revitalizing Boston.

Rappaport’s largest project is the Charles River Park, a residential, office, and retail community in Boston. The community has over 2500 housing units, hotel space, health clubs, retail stores, and athletic facilities.

Speaking on behalf of the Rappaport Foundation, Pearson said they are hoping the money will continue “to bring local elected and appointed officials together with the bright minds of Harvard to share their resources and ideas as they address public policy issues in Boston and beyond.”

—Staff writer Casey N. Cep can be reached at cep@fas.harvard.edu.

CORRECTION

The Rappaport Institute has offered 12 paid public-service internships per year since it was founded six years ago. A June 30 article incorrectly stated that the Institute has offered 12 paid public-service internships overall since it was founded.