After Donation, Radcliffe Gym Renamed Knafel Center

The Radcliffe Gymnasium will now be known as the Knafel Center, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study announced on Thursday, following a recent $10.5 million gift from long-time University donor and venture capitalist Sidney R. Knafel ’52.

Knafel, whose donation will support the missions of both the Radcliffe Institute and Harvard University more broadly, said that he decided to direct funding toward the Institute because he feels he can make a difference for the relatively young institution.

“I’m not seeking publicity for myself,” said Knafel, who is a former Crimson business manager. “I’m seeking a more thoroughly thought-out understanding of what the Radcliffe Institute is.”

The Radcliffe Institute was founded in 1999, following the merger of the University and Radcliffe College. The Institute hosts an annual fellowship program for artists and scholars and also funds the work of researchers both within and outside of Harvard.

Knafel serves as co-chair of the Radcliffe capital campaign and as honorary co-chair of the University-wide capital campaign, which will launch this fall. He said that he became a supporter of the Institute soon after its establishment and is excited by the Institute’s ability to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers around the world.

“It’s a wonderful place for Harvard to attract people outside of the Harvard orbit,” he said.

Radcliffe Dean Lizabeth Cohen praised Knafel’s gift in an emailed statement to The Crimson.

“It is wonderful, and wonderfully fitting, that the Radcliffe Gymnasium is now the Knafel Center, serving as the center of so much bold and creative work at the Radcliffe Institute and at Harvard,” she wrote. “We recognize that Sid thinks big and appreciate that with his most recent gift, he is inspiring us all to unite big thinkers across disciplines and boundaries to connect in new ways with one another and the public.”

The newly named Knafel Center is slated to undergo external renovations this summer.

Over the years, Knafel has donated tens of millions of dollars to Harvard. In 1996, he made a donation that contributed to the development of the Center for Government and International Studies’ Knafel Building.

—Staff writer Nikita Kansra can be reached at nkansra01@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @NikitaKansra.