Howard Gilman was descendant of Isaac Gilman, who had founded the Gilman Paper Company

Gilman Paper Company

The Gilman Paper Company was a paper producer that was started in the 1880's by Isaac Gilman in Gilman, Vermont. In the 1940's his son Charles Gilman built an additional mill in St. Mary's, Georgia. The company was capable of producing 2.6 million pounds of paper per day, employed 1,100 workers...

 in 1884.

Biography

Gilman was born and raised on Manhattan's Upper East Side. He attended Horace Mann School

Horace Mann School

Horace Mann School is an independent college preparatory school in New York City, New York, United States founded in 1887 known for its rigorous course of studies. Horace Mann is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League, educating students from all across the New York tri-state area from...

 in the Bronx, New York, and received his bachelor's degree in 1944 from Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He served in the Navy during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Gilman died in 1998 of a heart attack at age 73, at his White Oak Plantation near Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

. He had $1.1 billion in assets, and $550 million of debt. As he was childless, he donated his assets to the Howard Gilman Foundation

Howard Gilman Foundation

The Howard Gilman Foundation is a charitable organization started by Howard Gilman.*Howard Gilman Memorial Park*Howard Gilman Opera House at the Brooklyn Academy of Music*White Oak Plantation in Jacksonville, Florida...

. The Brooklyn Academy of Music

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....

 has the Howard Gilman Opera House and there is the Howard Gilman Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...

.