Lewis B. Cullman, scion of a distinguished New York family, broke from the Cullman tobacco interests to forge innovations in business and philanthropy. He graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in government, earned an M.S. in meteorology from New York University and served as an aerological officer in the Navy until the end of World War II. In 1963, he pioneered the first leveraged buyout. He was founder and president of Cullman Ventures, Inc., a diversified corporation that included the At-A-Glance Group, which at the height of its success produced nearly 90 percent of all commercial calendars, diaries and appointment books purchased in America. At that time, Mr. Cullman and his late wife Dorothy founded the Child Development Center in Sydney, New York — where At-A-Glance was located — which is now a model for early childhood care and education. In 1999, Mr. Cullman sold the company to devote his energies to philanthropy, serving on the boards of, among others, the Museum of Modern Art, the New York Botanical Garden, the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and as Chairman of his favorite charity, Chess-in-the-Schools. Since 1986, Chess-in-the-Schools has taught the skills and strategies of chess to over 500,000 inner-city children, with many assisted by the organization’s College Bound program to prepare for, apply to and attend prestigious colleges. A member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Mr. Cullman is author of the engaging memoir, “Can't Take It with You: The Art of Making and Giving Money” (Wiley) and the booklet “How To Succeed in Fundraising by Really Trying,” distributed for free on his website, LewisCullman.com. He has generously endowed and supported numerous institutions, including the Library of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, as well as the Scholars & Writers Program at the New York Public Library, the Hall of the Universe at the American Museum of Natural History and a joint program in Molecular Systematics at the AMNH and the NYBG, all of which bear his name. In recognition of his contributions to New York City, he is the recipient of the Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture. In December 2010, Mr. Cullman married Louise Kerz Hirschfeld.