Drew Katz, the son of former trustee Lewis Katz, was elected to a four-year term on Temple’s Board of Trustees in a public meeting today in Sullivan Hall.
Joseph Marshall, who chairs the Trustee Affairs committee, introduced the recommendation to add Katz to the board, which was approved after a unanimous vote. Later in the meeting, Katz was assigned to the Athletics committee. He was not present at the meeting.
“[Katz] promised me that behind the scenes and externally he will be everything his dad was and perhaps more,” said Patrick O’Connor, chairman of the board. O’Connor said Katz wanted to be on the Athletics committee.
The elder Katz, who also served as chair of that committee, died May 31 when his private plane crashed in Bedford, Massachusetts. A few days prior, he and fellow trustee H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest won control of The Inquirer, The Daily News and philly.com after their $88 million auction bid.
Temple held a memorial service for Lewis Katz on June 4, attended by noted politicians like former President Bill Clinton and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.
Drew Katz is the CEO of Interstate Outdoor Advertising, a billboard advertising firm based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He also heads the Drew A. Katz Foundation, which he founded in 2003 as a philanthropic endeavor focusing on the “medical, educational, social, emotional, and cultural needs of those less fortunate,” according to its website.
Katz graduated from George Washington University and received a law degree from Stanford University Law School. He has worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, New Jersey and for the Philadelphia Public Defender’s Service. He resides in New York City and Philadelphia.
Drew Katz currently is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at Stanford Law School and a former board member for Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts, Inc.Katz also co-chairs the annual Garry Maddox-Drew Katz Celebrity Bowling Classic, according to his foundation’s website. The 2014 Bowling Classic was cancelled due to the death of Lewis Katz.
Joe Brandt and Bob Stewart can be reached at news@temple-news.com
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