PHILADELPHIA -- A $1 million gift from 1970 Wharton graduate Jeffrey Weingarten and his wife Susan to the University of Pennsylvania will enable Penn to build on its services to students with additional needs.

The donation establishes The Weingarten Family Program for Student Disabilities Services, which will allow Penn to bring the Learning Resources Center and Student Disabilities Services under one roof. The presentation was made this morning, at the beginning of Penn's second annual Learning Disability Symposium in Houston Hall, 34th and Spruce streets. Penn President Judith Rodin accepted the Weingarten donation on behalf of the University.

"This gift demonstrates our commitment to seeing that Penn students with learning disabilities receive the help they need to achieve academic success at the University," Jeffrey Weingarten said.

"We at Penn are grateful for the Weingartens' vision and generosity," Dr. Rodin said. "This is the largest gift Penn has ever received to support disabilities services and, to our knowledge, the largest of its kind to any institution of higher education on the East Coast."

The selection of a site for the Weingarten Family Program is expected to be made this summer and to be ready for students by spring 2004.

The Weingartens, who make their home in London, have been active in service to the University in other ways. Jeffrey Weingarten is a member of Wharton's European Board, and Susan Weingarten is a member of Penn's Student Disabilities Services Advisory Board, on which her husband serves in an unofficial capacity.

They have also created the Susan and Jeffrey Weingarten Scholarship at Wharton.

Their daughter Amanda is a Penn sophomore.

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