Dedication of Weill Hall: Joan and Sanford Weill
For much of their lives together, Joan and Sandy Weill have been committed to the arts, education, and medicine: causes devoted to the betterment of humanity. They have served and led the institutions that embody this ideal, and have had a profound impact as two of today’s most generous philanthropists.
Sandy Weill graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1955 and began a career in finance that included leadership roles in a number of major corporations, including American Express and Travelers. He later spearheaded the merger of Citicorp and Travelers, resulting in Citigroup—a firm he led as CEO until 2003 and as chair until his retirement in 2006.
Mr. Weill is a trustee emeritus of Cornell University, and currently serves as a presidential councillor. He has been the chair of the Board of Overseers for the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences since 1996. With his involvement the college established the first American medical school overseas, in Doha, Qatar, in 2001. In addition, he is a trustee of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and an overseer of Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center.
Mr. Weill has been chair of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Hall since 1991. He also serves as founder and chair of the National Academy Foundation, an organization he started in 1982; and co-chair of the board, along with Joan, of the White Nights Foundation of America.
Joan Weill earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Brooklyn College in 1956. Her personal commitment to public service extends to many of the activities in which her husband is involved, including Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where she serves on the executive committee of its Lying-In Hospital; and Cornell’s Ithaca campus, where she serves as a presidential councillor.
Mrs. Weill also serves as chair of the board of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation; chair of the Board of Trustees for Paul Smith’s College of the Adirondacks; co-chair of the advisory committee of the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall; board member of Women in Need; and honorary board member and president emeritus of Citymeals-on-Wheels.
The Weills have been married for 53 years and share a family connection to Cornell with their daughter, Jessica Bibliowicz ’81; son-in-law, Natan Bibliowicz ’81; and grandson, David Bibliowicz ’12.