Community Celebrates the Dedication of The Lizzie & Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation & Active Citizenship

Lizzie Ribbon-Cutting_Lead Donors

On April 27, The Frederick Gunn School community celebrated Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch ’72 and 13 other generous donors, many of whom were in attendance, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for The Lizzie & Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation & Active Citizenship. Students and faculty were joined on the Quad for the celebration by Trustees, alumni, parents, and friends of the school, to acknowledge and thank all those who helped to make this transformational new building possible. 
 

The Lizzie, as it is affectionately known on campus, officially opened to students and faculty in January and has quickly become a beloved gathering space. Designed as an interdisciplinary hub of learning, the 24,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art academic building houses the school’s innovative programs in science and math and three centers that support keystone programs: IDEAS Lab, the Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy.

“Combined with the founding principles of Frederick and Abigail Gunn, The Lizzie, in the heart of our campus, reinforces our commitment to ensuring that students become principled, active citizens, who will be a force for good in the world. What is happening day-to-day in this building is helping our students learn and grow in big and small ways,” said Head of School Emily Raudenbush Gum. “As they look out onto this historic Quad, where you all are now, I hope they picture a world that is bigger and more magical than they can imagine it here, and where they can apply all they have learned for the good of their neighbors.”

The event provided an opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the success of the project, most notably Lizzie and Jon Tisch, who made the lead gift of $25 million — the largest, single gift in the school’s history. “Thank you, Lizzie and Jon, for elevating our sights and helping us to think boldly, reimagining what the heart of campus could look like. You literally brought light to the core of who we are, and helped open our minds to see beyond the work we do in class, and the impact that this building and so much of what we do will have on generations of Gunn students,” Raudenbush Gum said. “Your gift started a chain reaction that has inspired so many others to do extraordinary things for this school, and we are only getting started.”

Addressing the community, Jon Tisch reflected on the dedication as a moment intersecting the school’s 174-year history, and his family’s history with the school, which began when his brother, Steve Tisch ’67 arrived on campus as a freshman in 1963. “Steve started here and immediately connected with the community. I would come visit him on many occasions and became very close to a dean that many of you remember, Norman Lemcke P’84, and his wife, Nancy P’84. That was my impetus for wanting to become a student here, starting in 1968. We’ve come a long way in all those years, but actually, we’re right back to where we started with the ideals of Abigail and Frederick Gunn, about humanity, about treating people with respect, about educating the whole student,” Tisch said.

He then shared with the community the news that the school is entering the public phase of a campaign, with a goal of raising $100 million. As the campaign chair, Tisch is working closely with co-chairs Wanji Walcott P’19 and Jon Linen ’62, and announced at the ribbon-cutting as well as at the Founders Society Celebratory Dinner the previous evening that the school had already raised $91.5 million toward its $100-million goal during the “quiet phase” of the campaign. 

“We have one year to raise $8.5 million to get us to that $100 million goal. I have every confidence that we will get there. But we can’t stop there. We have much more work to do,” Tisch said, thanking the Alumni & Development Office for helping the school exceed its initial goal of raising $75 million during the quiet phase of the campaign. The funds raised over the next year will support priorities outlined in the 2025 Strategic Plan, including faculty compensation, financial aid, and support for our academic program. Beyond this, the Strategic Plan includes long-range goals, such as improvements to the athletic facilities on the east side of campus, which are envisioned as part of the progression that began with the Thomas S. Perakos Arts and Community Center, opened in January 2020, and now, The Lizzie. “We will get athletics done, I can guarantee you, but it’s going to take a lot of work from a very committed board and donors who have been incredibly generous,” he said.

Looking back, Tisch reflected that the idea to call the new building “The Lizzie,” came out of a conversation he had over lunch with then-Head of School Peter Becker. “The Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation and Active Citizenship is certainly a mouthful and I was following the lead of the Thomas Perakos center becoming TPACC. I said, ‘Peter, what are we going to call this building?’ No one is going to say, ‘Oh, I’ll meet you at 12 o’clock in front of The Lizzie & Jonathan Tisch Center for Innovation & Active Citizenship.’ So he said, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘Let’s call it The Lizzie.’ Well it stuck, and it’s very meaningful to me that it has stuck in a significant way because The Lizzie represents the Lizzie,” he said, referring to his wife, who was seated next to him at the dedication. “The Lizzie who I am blessed to be married to is an incredible person who looks at life in a way of treating people fairly, of understanding their potential, of representing the best of the best. So I get quite a thrill to see the signs, to see the swag, to see all these references to the most important person in my life, now being so forward at The Frederick Gunn School.”

Addressing his wife, he added, “Lizzie, thank you for the inspiration. Thank you for lending us your name. Also, there’s a special charm that when I was here, it was all boys. To have a building named after a dynamic woman is very meaningful.”

Referring to the students gathered before him on the Quad, Tisch noted that some will be leaving Gunn in a few short weeks, some are in the middle of their journey, some are just starting out. “New young ladies and new young men will arrive in September, and that will go on for many, many, more years. What we are creating is a very special environment to educate the future leaders of our country. And the classes that they will take, whether they be science, whether they be citizenship, what they will learn in this building, what they will experience on this campus, will guide them very well as they go off to college, graduate college, and then make this world a better place. To everybody involved with The Frederick Gunn School, I thank you, we thank you. May we be coming here for many, many, more years to come to celebrate days like this, because we are doing something that is very important and is really good.”

Prior to acknowledging the donors individually, Raudenbush Gum invited Board Chair Patrick Dorton ’86 to the podium to share a resolution unanimously passed by the Board of Trustees that morning with a sense of enthusiasm and excitement for the new building at the heart of campus, and with gratitude to the donors who invested in it. The Lizzie, the resolution stated: “provides an environment for students to be at once deep thinkers and wide-reaching dreamers. From science and math to citizenship and engineering, the classrooms provide the perfect launch pad from which young and adult minds can leap.”

The new building “ensures students have inspiring, modern, and natural-light-drenched spaces that are conducive for communication and collaboration to flow with their peers and teachers,” and “houses cutting-edge resources for students to see the world in a new way, with a different perspective, through a fresh lens. It is a place where academic risk-taking is encouraged, be it with a Bunsen burner, slide rule, or pen in hand.”

The Lizzie also is imagined as a place where students will gather socially, for club meetings and activities such as chess tournaments, March Madness viewing parties, or Friday Night Fire Pit on the terrace. “It provides a bright light, in the center of all activity and with sweeping views of campus, where students can gather to celebrate the simple joys of boarding school life,” the commemorative resolution said.

With that, Raudenbush Gum offered words of gratitude for all of the donors, especially the following:

  • Trustee Emeritus Steve Bent ’59, who over the years has made Gunn a philanthropic priority, quietly and generously investing in a variety of projects on campus;
  • Former Trustee and past parent Gretchen Farmer P’05, who sadly passed away a year ago; one of the earliest champions of sustainability initiatives on campus, Gretchen underwrote the cost of the geothermal wells and monitoring system, used as a teaching tool, and was represented by her husband Phil P’05, and their children, Mallory ’05 and Austin;
  • Our newest Trustee, Josh Feil ’98, and his wife, Nell Solley, whose family has a long history with the town and the school, and whose relative, Virginia Hamilton Solley de Sieyes Risley deCourcy, for whom the dining hall is named, was Gunn’s first female Board Chair and one of our most generous benefactors; 
  • Adam Gerry P’21, a Trustee, past parent, and benefactor recognized for his generosity and impact on the community;
  • Gary and Beth Glynn, who became a Trustee for the first time in 2003 and has generously invested in previous initiatives in support of faculty compensation, the athletic fields, and key academic programs, and for whom the new faculty lounge in The Lizzie is named;
  • Nick Molnar ’72, a longstanding Class Agent and 2006 recipient of the David Hoadley ’51 Alumnus of the Year Award, who is always one of the first to register for events and offer to support the school;
  • Trustee Emerita Joan Noto P’97, who served for 21 years on the Board, and who, with her husband, Lucio, were among the earliest supporters of the development of technology use at Gunn, and first donors to this project;
  • One of our longest serving Trustees, Dick Tager ’56, who has philanthropically invested in every recent capital project on campus, is one of the school’s most consistent and generous annual fund donors, and for whom the pavilion seating in The Lizzie is named;
  • Chris Bozzuto P’08 ’14 and Former Trustee Bill Tolley P’08 ’14, whose leadership was crucial to the creation and adoption of the 2025 Strategic Plan, and who heeded our call for the creation of a space that would bring many elements of that plan to life, by making a gift in honor of their sons, Andrew ’08 and Jared ’14;
  • Past parents Belinga Peng Wong and William Peng P’23, who generously funded the terrace in celebration of their son, Zachary ’23, and current and future students.
  • One anonymous donor whose quiet yet substantial investment in the building speaks volumes.

At the dedication, Raudenbush Gum also thanked Chief Financial Officer Chris Cowell, who, along with Director of Campus Safety Zach Mihaly and Director of Facilities Rob Daly, were instrumental in managing the construction process; and the many faculty members, including Associate Head of School Seth Low P’26, who helped craft the Strategic Plan and have worked to bring it to life. Gratitude was also expressed to the project architects at Sasaki, the construction managers at O&G, and the team at Colliers, which represented the school during construction; to our neighbors, who supported and tolerated the project; and to the Board, which approved the project and recognized it would be a game-changer for the school.

“Not only did we end up with this beautiful building, but we now have a central gathering space for our community,” Raudenbush Gum said. “Students can come together in the heart of our campus – not only to learn – but to create lasting friendships and memories that will extend beyond their time at school.”

Donors, alumni, Trustees, and special guests gathered at Conroy House, the Head of School’s residence, for a celebratory lunch immediately following the dedication. Those who are interested in learning more about the Campaign for The Frederick Gunn School are asked to please email campaign@frederickgunn.org.

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