Diana Blank

Last updated
Diana Blank
Born
Diana Latow

(1942-09-13) September 13, 1942 (age 79)
OccupationPhilanthropist
Spouse(s) Arthur Blank (divorced)
Children3
Website http://kendedafund.org/

Diana Latow Blank (born September 13, [1] 1942) [2] is an American philanthropist who founded the Kendeda Fund and the former wife of The Home Depot co-founder, Arthur Blank.

Contents

Biography

Blank was raised in a middle class, Catholic family. [1] Through her Kendeda Fund, founded in 1993, [3] Blank has historically donated anonymously to various Georgia-based causes including $4 million to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in the mid-1990s; and $20 million to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta to enable the purchase of Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital, a historically-black hospital in Atlanta, [1] in 2006. [4] In 2015, she was revealed as the person who provided a $30 million grant to Georgia Tech for their Living Building Challenge 3.0. [1] tasked with building the "most environmentally-sound building ever constructed in the Southeast." [5]

The Kendeda Fund donates between $40 million and $50 million annually and has donated over $500 million through 2017 with the goal of spending all its assets by 2024. [6] The name "Kendeda" comes from the names of Blank's three children, Kenny, Dena, and Danielle. [7] Her daughter Dena Blank Kimball serves as the executive director of the Kendeda Fund. [1]

Personal life

She has three children with Arthur Blank (born 1942): Kenny Blank, Dena Blank Kimball, and Danielle Blank Thomsen; [2] they divorced in 1993. [1] Her son, Kenny Blank and his wife Nancy; [8] [9] and her daughter Dena and her husband Josh Kimball, serve as directors of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

MacArthur Foundation American private foundation

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and provides approximately $260 million annually in grants and impact investments. It is based in Chicago, and in 2014 it was the 12th-largest private foundation in the United States. It has awarded more than US$6.8 billion since its first grants in 1978.

Hala Moddelmog became the first female president and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC) in January 2014 following a career in the corporate and non-profit sectors. Moddelmog has 19 years of career experience in president and CEO roles. Her areas of expertise are strategic planning, marketing, brand and product development, and assembling and managing high performance teams and brand revitalization.

Arthur Blank American businessman and sports team owner

Arthur M. Blank is an American businessman and a co-founder of the home improvement retailer The Home Depot.

The Buffett Foundation is a charitable organization formed 1964 in Omaha, Nebraska, by investor and industrialist Warren Buffett as a vehicle to manage his charitable giving. It was renamed the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation in honor of his wife, Susan Buffett, who died in 2004.

Bernard Marcus American billionaire businessman

Bernard "Bernie" Marcus is an American billionaire businessman. He co-founded The Home Depot and was the company's first CEO, and chairman until retiring in 2002.

Atlantic Philanthropies Private philanthropic foundation

The Atlantic Philanthropies(AP) was a private foundation created in 1982 by Irish-American businessman Chuck Feeney. The Atlantic Philanthropies focused its giving on health, social, and politically left-leaning public policy causes in Australia, Bermuda, Ireland, South Africa, the United States and Vietnam. It was among the largest foreign charitable donors in each of the countries in which it operated, and was the single largest funder of programs that encouraged the civic engagement of older people and of comprehensive immigration reform in the United States. With the single largest advocacy grant ever made by a foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies committed $27 million to win passage of the Affordable Care Act in the United States. About half of the Atlantic Philanthropies' grants were made in donations that allow lobbying.

Lee Foundation is Singapore's largest private charitable foundation. It was founded in 1952 by philanthropist and businessman Lee Kong Chian, and has since supported various educational causes, healthcare and medical endowments as well as disaster relief efforts. It is run by a board composed of Lee's descendants and non-family members. The foundation is also shareholder of OCBC Bank and Singapore Press Holdings.

Atlanta Ballet is a ballet company, located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the longest continuously performing ballet company in the United States and the State Ballet of Georgia.

Arthur Samberg American businessman

Arthur Jay Samberg was an American businessman and philanthropist. He founded Pequot Capital Management and served as the chief executive officer, president and chairman of the company. Samberg's flagship Pequot fund, started in 1986, netted 17.8 percent over the life of the fund. After the fund closed, he managed his family office through Hawkes Financial. He was also a significant contributor to several hospitals and universities, including New York-Presbyterian Hospital and his alma maters Columbia Business School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding Hospital in Georgia, United States

The Children's Healthcare of Atlanta - Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital is a freestanding, 24-bed, pediatric acute care and outpatient children's hospital located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. It is affiliated with both the Emory University School of Medicine and the Morehouse School of Medicine, and is a member of the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta system, 1 of 3 of the children's hospitals in the system. The hospital provides comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to infants, children, teens, and young adults aged 0–21 throughout the Atlanta region.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia

Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Opened in August 2017 as a replacement for the Georgia Dome, it serves as the home stadium of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) and Atlanta United FC of Major League Soccer (MLS). The stadium is owned by the state government of Georgia through the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, and operated by AMB Group, the parent organization of the Falcons and Atlanta United. In June 2016, the total cost of its construction was estimated at US$1.6 billion.

Olympia Building

The Olympia Building is a landmark at the absolute center of Atlanta, Five Points in Downtown Atlanta.

Peachtree-Pine shelter

The Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter was located at 477 Peachtree Street NE, at the corner of Pine Street in the SoNo subdistrict of Downtown Atlanta, just south of Midtown. It was officially closed on August 28, 2017 after many years of political wrangling over the site and its management. The 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) building, which is within sight of Fox Theatre and Bank of America Plaza, stretches from Peachtree Street in the front to Courtland Street in the back. It was run by the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, whose executive director was Anita Beaty. The facility could house up to 700 homeless men each night, although some sources say it could house up to 1000.

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) sometimes simply referred to as Children's, is a not-for-profit children's healthcare system, located in the Atlanta area dedicated to caring for infants, children, teens, and young adults aged 0–21 throughout Georgia. CHOA formed in 1998 when Egleston Children's Health Care System and Scottish Rite Medical Center came together becoming one of the largest pediatric systems in the United States. In 2006 CHOA assumed responsibility for the management of services at Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital growing the system to three hospitals.

Carol Jenkins Barnett is an American philanthropist and businesswoman, the daughter of George W. Jenkins, the founder of Publix Super Markets. Jenkins Barnett has served as president of Publix Super Markets Charities and as a member of the board of directors of Publix Super Markets. She has been included in a Forbes magazine list of The World's Billionaires every year since 2008.

The Pineapple Fund was a philanthropic project by an anonymous individual which gave away 5,057 bitcoins to 60 charities. The amount was valued at $86 million in December 2017. Some of the themes supported were medical research, environmental conservation, human rights and psychedelic therapy.

John F. Kennedy Park American public park

John F. Kennedy Park is a public park in the Vine City neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The park, named after former United States president John F. Kennedy, was reopened in 2019 following an extensive renovation.

Children's Healthcare Of Atlanta Arthur M. Blank Hospital (ABH) is a planned freestanding, 446-bed, pediatric acute care children's hospital currently under construction in the North Druid Hills region, Atlanta, Georgia. It will be affiliated with the Emory University School of Medicine and will be the flagship hospital of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The hospital will provide comprehensive pediatric specialties and subspecialties to infants, children, teens, and young adults aged 0–21 throughout Atlanta and will feature an level I pediatric trauma center. Its regional pediatric intensive-care unit and neonatal intensive care units will serve the Atlanta and greater Georgia region. The hospital will also have a helipad to transport critically ill patients to and from the hospital. This undertaking is the largest healthcare project in Georgia's history.

Kendeda Building

The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design is a multi-disciplinary, non-departmental academic building on the main campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Construction began in 2017, with the building designed to be the first Living Building Challenge-certified academic building in the Southeastern United States. It opened in late September 2019 and achieved Living Building certification in March 2021. It is the first certified Living Building in Georgia and the 28th in the world. It was designed by architectural firms Lord Aeck Sargent and Miller Hull with 100% funding for design and construction from the Kendeda Fund.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Atlanta Business Journals: "A longtime anonymous donor reveals her identity" by Maria Saporta Sep 18, 2015
  2. 1 2 Reference for Business: "Arthur Blank" retrieved October 18, 2014
  3. Inside Philanthropy: "A Top Green Funder Emerges from the Shadows and Steps Up Giving" by Tate Williams " retrieved February 7, 2017
  4. Children's Hospital of Atlanta retrieved February 5, 0217
  5. Atlanta Business Journals: "Atlanta to join cutting edge of ‘net zero’ buildings" by Maria Saporta September 18, 2015
  6. Inside Philanthropy: "Kendeda Fund: Grants for Conservation" retrieved February 7, 2017
  7. Saporta, Maria (18 September 2015). "A longtime anonymous donor reveals her identity". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  8. The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation: "Kenny Blank, Director" retrieved February 5, 2017
  9. The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation: "Nancy Blank, Director" retrieved February 5, 2017
  10. The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation: "Dena Blank, Director" retrieved February 5, 2017
  11. The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation: "Josh Kimball, Director" retrieved February 5, 2017