Remembering
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next to the museum shop named Charing Cross Courtyard, which was gift from Gilbert in memory of his former longtime partner, Dr. Jorge M. Sanchez, who passed away in 1987, with whom Gilbert shared his passion of dogs and dog shows. Gilbert Stanley Kahn grew up in New York, attended New York Military Academy and the University of Pennsylvania. He became active in the successful family publishing business created by his grandfather, Moses Annenberg, who was one of the greatest publishing czars in history. The son of L. Stanley Kahn and renowned philanthropist Janet Annenberg Hooker, Gilbert’s mother gave $8 million to the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of Natural History, where Gilbert was instrumental in creating the world-renowned Janet A. Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals -- home to some of the most breathtaking jewels in the world including the Hope Diamond. Gilbert served on that museum’s board for years. Among the showstoppers in Gilbert’s mother’s gem collection at the Smithsonian is the exquisite Hooker Emerald, a flawless 75. carat beveled square of exceptional color and clarity that was once owned by one of the last sultans in the Ottoman Empire, Abdul Hamid II, who wore the magnificent emerald in his belt buckle. It was sold to Tiffany & Co. in 1911 and reset, surrounded by 109 round and 20 baguette diamonds weighing 13 carats. The stone was featured in Tiffany’s 1950 Christmas Catalog. Gilbert’s mother bought the emerald in 1955 from Tiffany’s and donated it to the museum in 1977. She also donated to the same collection the fabulous Hooker Canary diamonds suite in gold designed by Cartier, which includes earrings, ring and necklace of a special starburst cut to give them brilliant sparkle. The necklace alone has 50 matching yellow diamonds which are exceedingly rare, with the entire set having a total of 331 carats. Another generous gift from Gilbert’s mother was her donation of $100,000 matched by ten other donors to purchase half of an Etruscan sculpture exhibit for the Vatican Museum. Gilbert’s uncle Walter Annenberg was Ambassador to The Court of St. James under Richard Nixon and funded the Annenberg School for Communication at University of Pennsylvania and University of Southern California, in addition to one of his best known grants of $500 million for school reform. With the support of his mother’s foundation -- the Janet A.
1935 Miami Beach - Gilbert’s 7th Birthday Party 96 Dog News
Gilbert S. Kahn and John Noffo Kahn at Fairholme
Hooker Charitable Trust -- Gilbert made numerous donations to charities, schools, hospitals, museums and the arts. He was a great opera lover and a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Golden Horseshoe as well as a managing director of that company. Several years ago, Gilbert underwrote the Met’s production of Wagner’s Lohengrin in 1998 and gave a $1 million gift to Miami’s Adreinne Arsht Performing Arts Center, Miami’s version of Lincoln Center. Gilbert served on the Board for the Florida Grand Opera and Florida Philharmonic for many years. In Washington D.C., he served with his aunt, The Hon. Leonore Annenberg (wife of Ambassador Annenberg ) on the Board of Friends of Art and Preservation in Embassies, of which his Aunt Lenore was one of the original founders. Gilbert’s Aunt Leonore was later honored for her philanthropic work in the preservation of British culture and in promoting British-American relations and was presented with a C.B.E. Medal of Honor (Commander of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II. Since 1966 Gilbert maintained residences in Florida including residences that he owned with his partner John Noffo in Palm Beach, Vermont, and an apartment in New York overlooking Central Park. There is also the exquisite “Fairholme” -- Gilbert’s stately home in Newport, RI, built in 1875 with elegant rooms and floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows offering expansive views of the ocean. It is where Gilbert and John did much entertaining. Through his love and work with dogs and all animals, Gilbert greatly contributed to South Florida’s Animal Welfare Society. In 1994 he made a gift to the University of Pennsylvania to endow and name the deanship of its school of Veterinary Medicine, the CONTINUED ON PAGE 98