Martin and Margy Meyerson Endowment Fund for the Built Environment

In 2005, President Emeritus Martin Meyerson and Margy Ellin Meyerson established this fund to support the acquisition and conservation of scholarly material for the University of Pennsylvania School of Design in the area of the Built Environment — City and Regional Planning, Landscape Architecture, Environmental Planning, and Architecture.

Both the Meyersons were distinguished academics in this area of study and knew the value of the materials provided by the Fund to scholars and practitioners from every corner of the world.

Martin Meyerson worked on problems of regional, national, and cultural development for governments and institutions in various countries. He was a member of the United Nations Mission on Urbanization and Industrialization in Japan and also served the United Nations as an advisor in Indonesia, helping to establish a program to aid in development. A consultant in West African countries, he also advised the government of Spain and the Governor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, and served as an advisor on programming for France's Institut National de la Communication Audiovisuelle. He was a founder and served for a score of years as the International Governor of the research Centre for Environmental Studies based in London. Presidents of the United States from both parties asked him to serve on task forces for Congress, and on councils of the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, the Census Bureau, the Electric Power Research Institute, and other agencies.

Margy Meyerson received a Master of Arts in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. Considered an expert in the field of urban planning, she was joint editor of Urban Housing, 1966, a landmark text still on syllabi at Berkeley and other city planning programs. A member of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, she was active with many civic groups, including the Rosenbach Museum & Library, where she served as Chair Emeritus.