To celebrate his 50th birthday, Stuart Applebaum, a senior vice-president at Random House, gave away $150,000 of his own money. The biggest chunk went to the Queens Library Foundation, which received a $100,000 donation. Charities chosen by the 50 friends who attended his birthday party each got $1,000 checks.
The fact that Applebaum has spent half his life in publishing made the library an obvious choice, the New York Times noted September 30. The library reported that Applebaum had been considering making a large charitable donation, when he read an article on the Queens Borough Public Library in the Times that triggered memories of his early experiences with the institution. “Some of the happiest moments I spent as an adolescent and as a young person were spent sitting in the library,” he told the Times.
Applebaum’s donation is earmarked for a mail-a-book program for the homebound (in memory of his mother), adult general reference materials at the Central Library (in memory of his father), and an after-school enrichment program (in memory of his brother).
Posted October 4, 1999.