Hillman home gifted to CMU, to be residence for president
The longtime residence of the late Henry and Elsie Hillman, valued at nearly $2.3 million, has been donated to Carnegie Mellon University for use as a presidential residence and as a venue for campus gatherings and important events.
James Rohr, chairman of the university’s board of trustees, notified faculty and staff late Thursday of what he called “a unique philanthropic gift.” It also includes a related grant to the university for renovations needed to make the property compatible with the university’s needs.
Mr. Rohr said Carnegie Mellon’s current presidential residence on Northumberland Street will be put up for sale, with income generated going to the school’s $2 billion endowment.
That residence, when purchased in 1999 by the university in what
local real estate experts said at the time was the most expensive residential transaction in city history, had a value of $1.72 million. At the time of sale, it had 16 rooms, 5½ baths and 1½ acres of property.
The Hillman residence, located in the Morewood Heights neighborhood near campus, was built in 1915 and was the Hillmans’ home for more than 50 years, Mr. Rohr said.
Jason Maderer, a Carnegie Mellon spokesman, declined to discuss details of the donation Thursday, including the address, the value of the property or the accompanying grant.
However, the five-bedroom Colonial house at 5120 Holyrood Road has a market value of $2.3 million and is assessed at just shy of that at $2.28 million, according to Allegheny County real estate data.
Its annual county real estate taxes are currently $10,577.98. The size of the grant for renovation was not clear.
Mr. Rohr said both Henry and Elsie Hillman were longtime benefactors of the university, and that Mr. Hillman in particular had an interest in CMU. He first discussed the idea of a property transfer a number of years ago.
“After his passing in 2017, CMU and the Hillman Foundation initiated discussions regarding our acceptance of the residence, and I am pleased to report that the gift was completed with the recent transfer of the property,” Mr. Rohr wrote Thursday.
“In addition to transferring the property, the Hillman Foundation has also made a very generous grant to fund the renovations needed to transform the building to suit the university’s current and future needs,” he added.
Mr. Hillman had a national profile as a businessman, and Mrs. Hillman was prominent in U.S. and Pennsylvania politics.
They were involved with numerous charitable organizations impacting Pittsburgh and the region and aided initiatives through their philanthropy. One of their most significant gifts created the Hillman Cancer Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which the Hillman Foundation continues to support, Mr. Rohr said.
At Carnegie Mellon, the Hillmans’ giving has been felt campuswide, Mr. Rohr said. The couple delivered the lead gift for the Hillman Center for Future-Generation Technologies, part of the GatesHillman complex. They also provided the initial funding for Traffic21, as well as BrainHub, now the university’s Neuroscience Institute.
Mr. Rohr said the couple also established the Henry L. Hillman Endowed Fund for the President’s Chair, which allows CMU’s president to invest in emerging and critical areas.
’They knew that Pittsburgh is a special place and wanted to help raise its profile,” Mr. Rohr said.
An increasingly isolated Andrew Cuomo defiantly refused to resign as New York’s governor Friday after a majority of his state’s congressional delegation joined calls from most state legislators for him to step down amid a growing sexual harassment scandal.
Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, instead attacked the lawmakers, who by early evening included the state’s two U.S. senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, as being “reckless and dangerous” for using news reports and the public testimonials of women as a basis for pushing him from office before an investigation concludes.
“The people of New York should not have confidence in a politician who takes a position without knowing any facts or substance,” he said. “Do I think it is responsible to take a position on a serious allegation before you have any facts? No, I don’t think it is responsible.”
Mr. Cuomo, 63, has held on to office by arguing that a full investigation of the claims against him will vindicate his behavior, even as he has been evasive about some of the particulars of what may have happened with the women. He avoided a direct question Friday about whether he had what he understood to be a consensual relationship with any of his accusers, saying only that he had “not had a sexual relationship that was inappropriate, period.”
Several Cuomo advisers said Friday that he was planning to rely on his support among Black voters, particularly in New York City, and to dispute or downplay every charge until he is vindicated by the investigation now beginning
under the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, a Democrat, or he is removed from office.
“People know the difference between playing politics, bowing to cancel culture and the truth,” Mr. Cuomo said Friday. “Let the review proceed. I’m not going to resign.”
It took only a matter of hours Friday for Mr. Cuomo to lose the support of most of his congressional delegation, as well as Mr. Schumer and Ms. Gillibrand, who had previously said they were withholding judgment until the James investigation was completed.
“Due to the multiple, credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, it is clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners and the people of New York,” Mr. Schumer, the Senate majority leader, and Ms. Gillibrand said in a joint
statement. “Governor Cuomo should resign.”
The rapid shift ended weeks of hesitation by Democratic leaders, who had held out hope that a full investigation of Mr. Cuomo’s actions could be completed before a verdict was passed on his term in office.
The initial delay by Democratic leaders represented a marked departure from the quick demands that previously greeted high-profile men accused of wrongdoing. Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was fired from his company three days after actresses accused him of sexual misconduct in 2017. Weeks later, the head of Amazon Studios, Roy Price, resigned days after a producer accused him of propositioning her.
In Washington, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sought the resignation of Rep. Ruben Kihuen, D-Nev., later that
year, a day after he was accused of propositioning and touching the leg of a fundraiser for his campaign. (He did not resign, but he did not seek re-election.)
Second thoughts among some Democrats about the 2018 resignation of Sen. Al Franken, D- Minn., and subsequent allegations, including claims made about President Joe Biden’s behavior and accusations against Brett Kavanaugh, now a Supreme Court justice, have prompted an evolution in thinking about how to confront such incidents.
Over a dozen members of the state’s congressional delegation have called on Mr. Cuomo to resign, with many releasing statements simultaneously Friday. Among those calling for his departure were House Democrats Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez, Antonio Delgado, Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney.