For Immediate Release

Charles H. Revson Foundation Announces Lisa Goldberg
as New President:
Eli N. Evans to Step Down as President after 25 Years

New York, New York, June 30, 2003

The Charles H. Revson Foundation announced today that Lisa E. Goldberg, Executive Vice President of the Foundation, will become President on July 1. Ms. Goldberg succeeds Eli N. Evans, the Foundation's first president, who has served since 1977. Mr. Evans will serve as President Emeritus, consulting on a variety of projects.

Since joining the Foundation as a program officer in 1982, Ms. Goldberg has assumed increasing responsibilities for the Foundation's grantmaking and other aspects of the institution's operations. She was named Vice President in 1984 and Executive Vice President in 1994. A graduate of Radcliffe College and Harvard Law School, Ms. Goldberg served as a senior staff member of President Jimmy Carter's Commission for a National Agenda for the 1980s; a consultant to Judges Harold Leventhal and David Bazelon of the Federal Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia; and director of a Boston family court program funded by the federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA).

Dr. Philip Leder, Chairman of the Foundation's Board of Directors, stated, "Lisa Goldberg is a person of great talent and intellect, who brings both continuity and vision to the job. She has been a key member of a successful team for almost the entire life of the Foundation. We are fortunate that she has agreed to lead the Foundation as we confront the emerging issues of the twenty-first century."

Dr. Leder, who is Chairman of the Department of Genetics at Harvard University Medical School, recently succeeded Robert Rifkind of the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City as Chairman of the Foundation's Board.

The Foundation makes grants in the program areas of urban affairs, education, Jewish philanthropy and education, and biomedical research policy. Across program areas, its grantmaking has reflected an interest in the future of New York City, the accountability of government, the impact of modern communications technology, and the changing role of women.

"As we move ahead," Ms. Goldberg said, "we will build on the extraordinary accomplishments of Eli Evans and the Foundation over the past twenty-five years." While anticipating a continuation of the general directions of Foundation giving, Ms. Goldberg stressed the importance of "identifying new needs and new opportunities in a changing world." As a small foundation, she stated, the Revson Foundation will continue to seek to join with others to launch major initiatives.

Eli Evans stated, "Lisa Goldberg's intelligence and judgment have left a mark on every accomplishment of the Revson Foundation. Widely known and deeply respected in the foundation world, she is a gifted and intuitive person who will be a far-seeing leader. Together we have been a memorable team. On her own she will be a remarkable president."

Among notable projects the Foundation has helped to launch and support are public television series such as the Israeli version of Sesame Street, whose new Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian coproduction will be aired in the fall; the award-winning Heritage: Civilization and the Jews with Abba Eban, broadcast in nineteen countries and recently reissued in the form of an interactive DVD-ROM; Genesis: A Living Conversation with Bill Moyers, which brought together scholars, artists, and theologians of many faiths; and Eyes on the Prize, which documented the history of the civil rights movement.

The Foundation has established fellowship programs in Charles H. Revson's name at a number of institutions, including Columbia University, where the Revson Fellows Program on the Future of the City of New York provides a sabbatical year and academic coursework for outstanding mid-career professionals committed to improving the city's future. Fellowship programs named for Mr. Revson have supported more than 2,500 individuals in the fields of biomedical research, public interest law, women and public policy, and Jewish studies.

In Israel, the Foundation helped to establish the Israel National Science Foundation and expand the mission of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, an independent think tank that conducts policy research on the economics, politics, and environment of Israel.

In Washington, D.C., it has supported organizations that monitor government policy and report to the public such as the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Children's Defense Fund, and NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Mr. Evans is the author of The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South; Judah P. Benjamin: the Jewish Confederate; and The Lonely Days Were Sundays: Reflections of a Jewish Southerner. On his induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001, Mr. Evans was described as "an historian and a storyteller," an "engaged intellectual," and "a creative force in American philanthropy, as the first president of a foundation that in a short time has set a new standard in quietly funding an extraordinary array of far-reaching ideas that has attracted many other partners."

In May 2003, Mr. Evans received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary, which cited his "uncommon originality and leadership in the dual roles of historian and philanthropist."

Established by Charles H. Revson, the founder of Revlon, Inc., in 1956, the Revson Foundation has an endowment of approximately $141 million and last year paid out $10.9 million in grants to thirty organizations. Since becoming a staffed foundation with formal grantmaking procedures in 1978, it has awarded about $145 million in grants.

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