William P. Carey, American businessman (W. P. Carey & Co.) and philanthropist, died he was 81.

William Polk Carey was an American philanthropist and businessman  died he was 81.. A charismatic figure, he was the founder of W. P. Carey & Co., the corporate real estate financing firm headquartered in New York City and donated the funds to establish the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University, the Carey School of Law, and the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

(May 11, 1930 – January 2, 2012)

Early life, career, and family

Carey had deep familial roots in the city of his birth, Baltimore, Maryland. His great-great-great-grandfather James Carey was an 18th- and 19th-century Baltimore shipper, chairman of the Bank of Maryland, a member of Baltimore's first City Council and a distant relative of Johns Hopkins. His grandmother, Anne Galbraith Carey, conceived of the Gilman School for boys in Roland Park.^[1] As a young man Carey attended elementary school at Calvert School and left Roland Park's Gilman School to go to the Pomfret School in Connecticut, then attended Princeton University. Shortly after his father's death, he left Princeton for supposedly missing chapel. He went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania, before establishing himself in New Jersey working in his step-father's car dealership. Carey resided in New York City and Rensselaerville, New York. Carey was a notable alumnus of The Delta Phi Fraternity and was an active member in the University of Pennsylvania chapter. Mr Carey was an active member of the University Club in NYC. He was also Governor General of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in New York State. Mr. Carey also claimed to be a relative of President James Polk, the 11th President of the United States from 1845 to 1849.

The Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School

Carey announced December 5, 2006 his donation of $50 million to The Johns Hopkins University.^[2] He was a trustee emeritus at Hopkins and donated the money through his W.P. Carey Foundation.^[3] The gift is the largest to Hopkins in support of business education and is now called the Carey Business School. The Hopkins business school will be named after William Carey's great-great-great-grandfather, James Carey.^[4] The school offers a Master of Science in Real Estate program, one of the first in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. corridor.

University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

On April 25, 2011 Carey announced his donation of $30 million to The University of Maryland School of Law.^[5] The emphasis of the gift was to increase the school's endowment. The school is being named after Carey's grandfather, Francis King Carey, who was a graduate of the Law School (Class of 1880).

Arizona State University W. P. Carey School of Business

Carey was benefactor to the Arizona State University College of Business. In 2002, Carey donated $50 million to the College of Business. In recognition of his gift, the University renamed its business school the W. P. Carey School of Business.

Contribution to The Gilman School

In the mid-1990s, the Gilman School started discussing the much needed renovations of Carey Hall, the school's main building which houses the Upper School students. Carey Hall, named after Carey's grandmother, was constructed in 1910 and remained the same until late 2006. Carey donated 10 million dollars to the school's capital campaign fund, a sum that was one fifth of the total amount of money raised for the renovation of Carey Hall. On December 10, 2007 Carey Hall was officially re-opened as Carey cut the ribbon signalling the start of a new generation in a new, updated Carey Hall.


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