Columbia University has announced a $30 million gift from alumnus, board member, and longtime donor H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest and his wife, Marguerite, to support construction of a multi-arts venue on its Manhanttanville campus.

The largest gift ever awarded to the university's School of the Arts will be used to build a 53,000-square-foot facility featuring an art gallery, a state-of-the-art film screening room, flexible performance space, and an area for presentations such as readings, symposia, and seminars. In recognition of the gift, the building will be named the Lenfest Center for the Arts.

A Columbia Law School graduate (class of 1958), Lenfest has donated more than $100 million in support of various programs at the university over the years, including the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the School of Nursing, Miller Theatre, Columbia Libraries, and Columbia Athletics. His most recent commitment to Columbia College includes matching funds to endow five assistant professorships in its core curriculum.

"The breadth of Gerry Lenfest's philanthropy and generosity to Columbia is truly remarkable," said Lee C. Bollinger, the university's president. "From the law school he attended to the humanities and sciences, from the Earth Institute to our medical center, Gerry has provided the sustainable source of energy for excellence across a diversity of university life and scholarship. This latest gift not only reflects the extraordinary leadership in the arts that he and Marguerite have long demonstrated in their home city of Philadelphia, it ensures that our thriving School of the Arts will finally have a facility that matches its astonishing creativity, and the university will have a vital new space for engagement in the robust cultural life of Harlem."