Transformative gift is largest ever for the Lindner College of
Business
CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 5, 2016--
American Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: AFG) and the University of
Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business announced today that AFG
and the family of Carl H. Lindner Jr. will make a gift of $11 million to
help create a new 225,000-square-foot building for the Lindner College
of Business, which is expected to be completed by fall 2019. This gift
is the largest ever in the 110-year history of the University of
Cincinnati’s business school.
The Lindner family, including Edyth Lindner, wife of the late Carl H.
Lindner Jr., Carl III and Martha Lindner, S. Craig and Frances Lindner,
and Keith and Courtney Lindner, generously contributed $6 million to the
project and is considering naming opportunities around the new building
and complex. The Lindner family hopes the gift will inspire others to
give back to the college while honoring the legacy of their beloved
husband and father, Carl H. Lindner Jr.
Carl H. Lindner Jr. was a celebrated businessman, entrepreneur and
philanthropist. With his brothers, he founded United Dairy Farmers. Carl
founded American Financial Group, Inc. and served as CEO. He also was
controlling owner and CEO of the Cincinnati Reds.
He not only left an incredible legacy in Cincinnati but also at the
University of Cincinnati, where the Carl H. Lindner Jr. College of
Business and the Lindner Honors-PLUS Program bear his name. His vision
was to attract the best and brightest students to Greater Cincinnati by
offering a first-class education. He was once-quoted saying, “My dream
is to put UC’s business college on the map as one of the finest in the
nation.”
The Lindner Center of HOPE, Richard E. Lindner Varsity Village, Richard
E. Lindner Athletic Center and Carl H. Lindner III Center for Insurance
and Risk Management at UC all bear the family name.
“My family gives this gift out of love for our father, Carl H. Lindner
Jr., the trajectory of the University of Cincinnati, and our
longstanding relationship with UC. We value the opportunity to work with
students and graduates from UC, and have many AFG and Great American
Insurance Group employees who are UC alumni,” said Carl H. Lindner III,
Co-CEO of AFG, BBA ‘75. (Mr. Lindner is also a past Trustee and the
recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Commercial Science degree from the
Lindner College of Business.)
“We are excited about the tremendous success of the Carl H. Lindner Jr.
College of Business and are proud to support fundraising efforts for the
innovative new building that continues our father’s legacy. As AFG’s
Co-CEOs, it is important to me and Carl to help to sustain strong
communities where we live and work. We are pleased that AFG’s gift will
help UC to continue to advance this shared goal,” said S. Craig Lindner,
Co-CEO of AFG, BBA ’77. (Mr. Lindner is also the recipient of an
Honorary Doctor of Commercial Science degree from the Lindner College of
Business.)
In early August, the university released preliminary renderings of the
new building for the Lindner College of Business, designed by
internationally renowned Henning Larsen Architects with Cincinnati-based
KZF Design as the architect of record. Early designs feature a
four-story building with glass facades, a grand atrium and lobby, open
workspaces, a courtyard, a large café, lecture spaces, a teaching lab
and more. The new Lindner College of Business building is expected to
cost about $120 million. In recent years, the Lindner College of
Business has received numerous national accolades and is on a path
toward preeminence. Enrollment in undergraduate and graduate business
degrees have both increased, up 50 percent and 200 percent,
respectively, since 2010.
“Carl H. Lindner Jr. and his family have been instrumental in
positioning our business school as one of the best in the nation, and
with this transformational gift, they are ensuring our rise to
preeminence with a best-in-class campus to educate the world’s next
business leaders for generations to come,” said David Szymanski, Dean of
the Lindner College of Business. “Our innovative and inspirational
facility will be leading edge and will meaningfully advance the college
and the university by creating new learning possibilities and
solution-driven outcomes for students, faculty, alumni, and corporate
and community partners. We are grateful for the Lindner family’s
leadership support and look forward to continuing the extraordinary
legacy of our college’s namesake.”
“The Lindner family has made an unparalleled impact on the University of
Cincinnati,” said UC Interim President Beverly J. Davenport. “From Carl
H. Lindner Jr.’s visionary support of the Lindner College of Business to
the family’s founding of the Lindner Center of HOPE to their
game-changing contributions to Bearcats athletics, UC is truly grateful
for our prized partnership with the Lindner family. The new home for our
Lindner College of Business will be an exemplar of how 21st century
learning spaces can transform the educational experience for our
students and symbolize the rise to international prominence of both the
University of Cincinnati and the Lindner College of Business. It is
destined to become a global model for premier business schools focused
on student-centered learning, innovation, collaboration and interaction
with industry experts.”
“With this incredibly generous gift, the Lindner Family and AFG have
issued a rallying cry for UC’s other partners to invest in the new
building project for the Lindner College of Business,” said UC
Foundation President Rodney Grabowski. “The new facility will benefit
the university and city for decades to come, serving as a central hub
for the intersection of business education and practice.”
About American Financial Group, Inc.
American Financial Group is an insurance holding company, based in
Cincinnati, Ohio with assets over $50 billion. Through the operations of
Great American Insurance Group, AFG is engaged primarily in property and
casualty insurance, focusing on specialized commercial products for
businesses, and in the sale of fixed and fixed-indexed annuities in the
retail, financial institutions and education markets. Great American
Insurance Group’s roots go back to 1872 with the founding of its
flagship company, Great American Insurance Company.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161005006296/en/
Source: American Financial Group, Inc.
American Financial Group, Inc.
Diane P. Weidner
Asst. Vice
President - Investor and Media Relations
513-369-5713
or
Websites:
www.AFGinc.com
www.GreatAmericanInsuranceGroup.com