Ruth C Perelman

She was the mother of financier Ronald Perelman. Mrs. Perelman and her husband Raymond were married 70 years in May. They were major donors to the university, including a recent $225 million donation to its medical center, and many Philadelphia institutions. They were also generous to a number of Palm Beach charities, including the American Red Cross, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Ballet Florida, the Norton Museum of Art, the Kravis Center, the American Friends of the Israel Museum, the Preservation Foundation, the Alexis deTocqueville Society, Good Samaritan Medical Center and the Palm Beach Friends of Magen David Adom, among others. Raymond Perelman and his sons Jeffrey and Ronald are all graduates of the university. A native of New Haven, Conn., Mrs. Perelman attended the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. "I wanted to attend Duke," she told The Inquirer, "but was discouraged because it was coed." While in Greensboro, she met her future husband, who was working for his family's company. They married in 1941. In addition to her husband and sons, Mrs. Perelman is survived by a sister, Phyllis Horton; eight grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.