Jeffrey Alfred Legum Explained

Jeffrey Alfred Legum

Jeffrey Alfred Legum (born 1941) is an American philanthropist, investor and former automobile dealer.

Legum has been successful as an auto dealer,[1] [2] and as an investor. His investment advice helped build the endowments of both the Park School and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Early life and education

He was born in Baltimore in 1941. His father, Leslie Legum, was a developer of large industrial parks,[3] and his mother, Naomi Legum, was the daughter of ice cream manufacturer, L. M. Hendler. Legum attended the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in economics and is listed as a distinguished alumnus of Wharton in business and finance .[4]

Park Circle Motor Company

Upon graduation from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business with a B.S. degree in economics in 1963, Legum joined Park Circle Motor Company, which was founded in 1921 by Legum's grandfather.[5] [6] By 1986, he had grown the dealership to the third largest in the country.[7] Legum's Westminster Motors provided limousines for the 1981 presidential inauguration.[8]

In 1989, Legum sold his Chevrolet-Nissan dealership, retaining Westminster Chevrolet Cadillac, a dealership he had acquired in 1973. He sold Westminster in 1997, ending his involvement in the automobile business.[9] [10]

Investment management and The Park Circle Company

Legum owns and is CEO of The Park Circle Company, DBA Park Circle Investments, a private investment company with interest in Baltimore-related corporations. In 1962, Park Circle Motor Company sold its wholly owned subsidiary, Truck Rental Company of Baltimore, to Avis in return for cash and 10% interest in Avis. In 1966, Park Circle and Lazard Freres sold Avis to ITT Corporation for stock in ITT. This cash and stock became the basis for Park Circle's original stock portfolio, which was managed by Legum.[11] Legum's economic views have been quoted in Barron's.[12]

Personal life

In 1968, Legum married the former Harriet Cohn.[13]

Philanthropy

He has been an active supporter of the Park School of Baltimore,[14] the Baltimore Museum of Art,[15] and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,[16] [17] [18] [19] where he endowed The Jeffrey and Harriet Legum Professorship in Acute Neurological Medicine and The John W. Griffin, MD Professorship in Neurology with a donation of $2.5 million.[20]

Legum served on the board of directors of the Preakness Celebration, Inc. in 1988 and 1989 and was the vice president in 1989. He is also an Emeritus Trustee of the Park School of Baltimore and has donated over $1 million to the school.

In 2001, Jeffrey and Harriet Legum donated $1.5 million to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to create a professorship in acute neurological medicine. Recently they gave an additional $1 million to the department of psychiatry to support a fellowship program.

In 2003, Legum and his wife donated $3 million to Johns Hopkins to help fund construction of a building which would house both clinical and basic research.

In 2021, Legum gave $110,000 to allow the Baltimore Museum of Art to keep their promise to increase the minimum wage for employees from $13.50 per hour to $15 per hour.[21] Legum also gave money to the Kennedy Center to support the construction of the second building, The REACH. [22]

In 2023 he gave $250,000 to Heartly House.

Notes and References

  1. News: Legum Chevrolet-Nissan, said to be Maryland's largest car dealership, was sold by Jeffrey A. Legum for $11.5 million to rival Robert L. Bell, who owns Ford, Mitsubishi and Suzuki dealerships in Glen Burnie. The Washington Post. August 10, 1989. B1.
  2. News: 1986. Automotive News. Sales Giants. Edward Lapham.
  3. News: Legum dealership bought for $11.5 million. The Sun. C1. August 9, 1989.
  4. News: Success is Plain Dumb Luck – Car Dealer Jeff Legum. Carroll County Times. November 25, 1979. A3.
  5. News: Park Circle Rounds out 50 years. General Motors Acceptance Corporation. GMAC News and Views. May–June 1971.
  6. News: 1971-03-23. Jeffrey Alfred Legum. 30. The Evening Sun. 2021-03-12.
  7. News: 1986. Automotive News. Sales Giants. Edward Lapham.
  8. News: It's got to be the most expensive inaugural souvenir.... February 6, 1981. UPI.
  9. News: Carroll dealer changes hands Len Stoler adds Westminster Motor to broad lineup. July 1, 2013. The Baltimore Sun. November 18, 1997. Jay. Hancock.
  10. News: The Sun. November 18, 1997. 1.
  11. News: Truck Rental Co. Acquired by Avis. Avis Inc., the world’s second largest auto rental firm, has entered into an agreement to acquire Truck Rental Co., Inc. Washington and Baltimore vehicle lessor, it was announced last night. Robert C. Townsend, president of Avis, said the agreement calls for the acquisition of all of the Truck Rental stocked owned by Park Circle Motor Co., Baltimore auto dealer. The price was not disclosed.. Wall Street Journal. May 9, 1962. 2.
  12. A friend of ours, Jeff Legum, who sells cars in Maryland, points out that there may be another reason for the severe drop in retail sales, the worst monthly decline since '78. Jeff points to the widely publicized computer snafu which, so the story goes, has caused the IRS to be delinquent in mailing out tax refunds. In the past years when those checks were in the mailbox instead of in the mail, people, Jeff says would come in to check out cars in early March and use their tax refunds as down payments. Not so, this year. Thanks to the delay by the IRS, with possible braking effects on overall retail sales. Barron's Up and Down Wall Street by Alan Abelson, April 15, 1985
  13. News: The Baltimore Sun. November 24, 1968.
  14. News: The Sun. February 5, 1989.
  15. News: Grand affair for 'Grand Design' at Baltimore Museum of Art. The Baltimore Sun. October 12, 1997. Sylvia Badger. July 1, 2013.
  16. Web site: Jeffrey and Harriet Legum Professorship in Acute Neurological Medicine. July 1, 2013.
  17. News: The Johns Hopkins U. (Baltimore): $3-million from Jeffrey A. Legum a trustee of Johns Hopkins Medicine, and his wife, Harriet, for capital projects to support medical research. Chronicle of Philanthropy . November 11, 2004.
  18. Web site: Gifts and Bequests. https://web.archive.org/web/20141027035051/http://business.highbeam.com/434953/article-1G1-147100086/gifts-and-bequests. dead. 27 October 2014. 25 June 2012.
  19. Web site: Breast Cancer Research Chair in Oncology. Johns Hopkins. 25 June 2012.
  20. Web site: Hanley. Daniel. BIOS. Johns Hopkins Medicine. June 25, 2012.
  21. Web site: Liscia . Valentina Di . After Canceling Controversial Deaccessioning, Baltimore Museum Receives Over $1M for Equity Initiatives . Hyperallergic . 25 February 2021.
  22. Web site: Supporters | Kennedy Center .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Jeffrey Alfred Legum".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.