Martin and Lois Whitman

SOURCE OF WEALTH: Third Avenue Funds

FUNDING AREAS: Education & Youth, Policy & Global, Jewish Causes, Health

OVERVIEW:  Martin and Lois Whitman conduct their philanthropy through the Hilda Mullen Foundation. According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded around $588,000 in grants in 2018. Martin Whitman is a major benefactor of his alma mater, Syracuse. Lois, meanwhile, takes the lead as a human rights advocate. The couple supports several major policy and international organizations, as well as Jewish causes.

BACKGROUND: Martin J. Whitman graduated from Syracuse University and New School for Social Research. A veteran value investor, Whitman founded the predecessor firms to Third Avenue Funds and M.J. Whitman LLC.

ISSUES:

EDUCATION & YOUTH: Martin Whitman has long supported Syracuse University, whose business school, The Martin J. Whitman School of Management, is named after him. Whitman and his wife Lois have also supported Lois’s school Columbia, as well as institutions like CUNY Law, Say Yes to Education, UPenn, UChicago, Yale, and Bard High School Early College.

POLICY & GLOBAL: Lois Whitman, a lawyer and social worker, plays a strong role in this grantmaking category.  She has been associated with Human Rights Watch since the mid-1980s and has conducted human rights investigations in numerous countries. She also founded and formerly served as director of Human Rights Watch Children's Rights Division, which investigates and seeks to end human rights abuses against children.

The couple have supported Human Rights Watch, ACLU, Center for Reproductive Rights, The Exoneration Initiative, Center for the Victims of Torture, and Worldwide Orphans Foundation.

JEWISH CAUSES: The Whitmans also earmark funds for Jewish organizations like American Association of Ben-Gurion University, American Friends of Tel Aviv University, Israel Policy Forum, UJA-Federation of New York, T’Ruah, and World Jewish Congress.

HEALTH: The couple also has an interest in health, with a particular eye towards mental health. They have supported Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, The Aaron T. Beck Psychopathology Research Center, and Physicians for Human Rights, where Lois is a board member.

LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the couple to stick with their established interest areas.

CONTACT:

The Hilda Mullen Foundation does not provide a clear avenue of contact but below is an address:

Hilda Mullen Foundation

c/o Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCoy

55 Hudson Yards

New York, NY 10001