Philanthropist Donates $18.5 Million to Renovate Lincoln Memorial

PHOTO: Lincoln Memorial; National Park Service photo

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WASHINGTON, DC -- The ideals and values of the nation’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, will be honored and shared for generations to come thanks to an $18.5 million gift from businessman and philanthropist David M. Rubenstein, the National Park Service announced Monday.

Rubenstein is a co-founder and co-CEO of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, according to the company Web site. Rubenstein co-founded the firm in 1987. Since then, Carlyle has grown into a firm managing more than $200 billion from 40 offices around the world, according to the company. Forbes magazine notes that Rubenstein is a resident of Bethesda.

The Presidents’ Day donation, presented during the National Park Service’s centennial year, will expand educational resources, foster public access, and repair and restore the Lincoln Memorial, the park service said. It is Rubenstein’s fourth gift to benefit the country’s national parks.

Rubenstein’s gift to the National Park Foundation’s Centennial Campaign for America’s National Parks will allow the National Park Service to:

• repair damaged brick and marble masonry and clean the memorial
• conserve the Jules Guérin murals located above the memorial’s inscriptions
• create approximately 15,000 square feet of functional space including exhibit, education and research areas
• and add an elevator to improve accessibility

A special project will provide future visitors with a glimpse of the memorial’s foundational pillars, which anchor the memorial to the bedrock, and of the graffiti of the workers who built the monument in the early 20th century.

“These improvements will hopefully enable more people to better understand and appreciate Abraham Lincoln’s remarkable leadership during one of the most trying periods in American history,” David Rubenstein said in a news release from the park service. “I am humbled to be a part of honoring this great man and preserving this iconic memorial for future generations.”

“This generous donation by David Rubenstein, his fourth to benefit national parks, comes at a perfect time as our national parks usher in a new century of service to this nation,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. “His act of ‘patriotic philanthropy’ will not only safeguard one of our most visited and recognizable memorials for future generations, but will also help preserve Lincoln’s legacy to this country.”

“Beyond honoring Abraham Lincoln and his presidency, the Lincoln Memorial has stood witness to key events and significant figures in America’s Civil Rights Movement, from Marian Anderson to Martin Luther King, Jr.,” National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said. “We are honored that David Rubenstein’s generous gift and patriotism will help the National Park Service tell the diverse stories of America’s past and demonstrate their continued importance to our nation.”

Rubenstein’s gifts of patriotic philanthropy benefitting the National Park Service are, in 2012, $7.5 million to restore the Washington Monument after the earthquake;$12.35 million to restore Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, in July 2014;and $5.37 million to refurbish the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in April 2015.