As actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus accepted an Emmy for “Outstanding Lead Actress” last night for her role as President Selina Meyer on HBO’s hit series “Veep,” she also surprised the crowd by revealing that her father who donated his art collection to the Harlem Children’s Zone had died just two days prior.
Gerard, aka William Louis-Dreyfus, the French-born billionaire collector and philanthropist, died on September 16 at the age of 84.
Her father made headlines in early 2015 when he announced his decision to donate proceeds from the sale of his 3,500-piece art collection to the charity Harlem Children’s Zone. After seeing a 60 Minutes news story that explained the organization’s “cradle to college” methodology of helping children in poverty, he made the gift, which was estimated to be worth between $10 million and $50 million.
