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Barnes to get $2 Million from Comcast
By Patricia Horn, Inquirer Staff Writer
October 24, 2002
Comcast Corp. and some of its senior executives will donate $2 million to the effort to move the Barnes Foundation's art collection from Lower Merion to Center City, the company said yesterday.
Comcast is hoping its donation will entice other corporations in the region to contribute to the campaign, executive vice president David L. Cohen said.
Bernard C. Watson, president of the Barnes Foundation, could not be reached for comment.
The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Lenfest and Annenberg Foundations have vowed to help raise $150 million to rescue the financially troubled Barnes Foundation if it will move its renowned collection to a new museum on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
"Bringing the Barnes to Philadelphia is a very important civic effort for the city," Comcast president Brian L. Roberts said. "As with the city's efforts to host a national political convention, we thought it was important and appropriate for us to play a leadership role in the corporate community."
The foundations have not said how much of the $150 million they have raised, although one recent estimate put the amount at about $80 million.
To move the collection, the Barnes Foundation must win permission from the Montgomery County Orphans' Court to rewrite the instructions left by its founder, Albert C. Barnes. Those documents specified that the foundation could not move or sell the art.
Orphans' Court Judge Stanley Ott will hold a private meeting of all parties in the case today.
Cohen said the $2 million would come from the company itself as well as from senior executives and the family of founder Ralph Roberts, Brian Roberts' father.
News of the donation comes as Comcast awaits word from two federal bodies - the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department - on whether it can complete its proposed acquisition of AT&T Corp.'s cable division. The merger would create the nation's largest cable company, with 22 million subscribers.
Comcast was integral in bringing the Republican National Convention to Philadelphia in 2000. The company's enthusiastic backing of the effort helped attract support from other companies.
"This is more than a check," Cohen said. "We intend to get behind this effort and encourage other corporate involvement."
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