The Sy Syms Foundation was established in 1985 by retail entrepreneur and humanitarian Sy Syms. His mission was to support education, and through his generosity the non-profit Foundation has effected the continued growth of many institutions of higher learning, including the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University, and many organizations which provide funding for education like the Inner City Scholarship Fund, the executive Women of New Jersey Scholarship Fund, the Coro New York Leadership Center, the Young People’s Leadership Foundation.
The Foundation over its almost 40 year history has been hugely supportive of Public Television through the underwriting of various programming. Mr. Syms personally was an early sponsor of Public Television Broadcasting.
The Sy Syms Foundation has also been supportive of medical research including that of the American Heart Association, the Barrow Neurological Institute & Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, Reuth Medical & Life Care Centers, The Children’s Cancer & Blood Foundation, Fragile X Research Foundation, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Jewish Family & Children’s Services, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, the International Pemphigus Foundation, the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science and many other entities in medicine and science which bring about improvement in life and living with and managing diseases.
In addition, the Foundation has been a proud benefactor to many civic and cultural bodies, each which further contribute to the betterment of our lives such as Lincoln Center Corporate Fund, WNYC, NPR, the Museum of Jewish Heritage, American Museum of Natural History, The Jewish Museum, Amnesty International, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, National Council of Jewish Women, and the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York.