Preston Robert Tisch

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Preston Robert "Bob" Tisch (April 29, 1926 – November 15, 2005) was the chairman, and, with his brother Laurence, part owner of the Loews Corporation. Tisch was born in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn in 1926. On August 16, 1986, he was appointed Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service, serving until February 1988. Tisch received a BA degree in economics from the University of Michigan in 1948, and his wife Joan Tisch and his daughter also received degrees at the university. While in college Tisch was a member of Sigma Alpha Mu, a Jewish fraternity. From 1991 until his death, Tisch owned 50 percent of the New York Giants American football team.

Tisch died in 2005 in his Manhattan home after a year-long battle with an inoperable brain tumor.

The Tisch family mausoleum in Westchester Hills Cemetery

[edit] Postal Service

While Postmaster General, Tisch created a separate department of philatelic affairs responsible for the USPS stamp program, appointing Gordon C. Morrison as its head. (Formerly, the marketing department was in charge of postage stamps.) The increased visibility for postage stamp sales was also reflected in a redesign of post offices to include sales areas for prepackaged stamps. In addition, he initiated the sales of stamps by telephone order to the general public, as an extension of an existing phone system by which the Kansas City philatelic center catered to collectors.

[edit] Philanthropy

Tisch made substantial donations to his alma maters, leading to these institutions naming a building and a school after him. Tisch Hall, on the University of Michigan central campus, houses that university's history department. New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and NYU Medical Center's Tisch Hospital are named after Laurence A. and Preston Robert Tisch. NYU's Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management was founded in 1995 and expanded in 1999^[1] to meet the needs of a growing student population. In 1997, the Central Park Zoo opened the Tisch Children's Zoo. Given two months to live by his New York doctors, Tisch lived for 14 more months under care at Duke. In recognition of their efforts, the Tisch family donated $10 million to the Duke Brain Tumor Center which was renamed the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center in October, 2005.

[edit] References

1. ^ History and Mission - Tisch Center. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.

• Bill McAllister, "Preston R. Tisch, 1926-2005", Linn's Stamp News, December 19, 2005.
• University of Michigan news article
• Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People
• AP article on Tisch's death
• Preston Robert Tisch
• http://www.cancer.duke.edu/btc/modules/missionmain27/index.php?id=1

[edit] External links

• "Preston Robert Tisch, Owner of Loews Hotels and Giants, Dies at 79", The New York Times, October 26, 2005. 

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