Skadden Name Partner Helps Bring Pianos to the Streets of New York
The only living name partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom has donated $60,000 to help bring 60 pianos to the streets of New York as part of a “play me, I’m yours” worldwide public art project.
The matching donation by Joseph Flom and his wife, Judi, a former concert pianist who is now a lawyer, spurred another $120,000 in matching donations to support the project by Sing for Hope, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The pianos will be decorated and displayed in parks and other public places in New York from June 21 to July 5, and then they will be donated to organizations such as schools and hospitals.
Sing for Hope is a group of professional artists who perform for free at schools and hospitals. It hopes to raise awareness of its mission through the project, according to a press release.
Flom told the Wall Street Journal that Sing for Hope and other charitable projects have helped bring him closer to his wife, whom he married in 2008. “I can’t give away the same amount of money as Bill Gates but we try to give to the organizations where we can really make a difference,” he told the newspaper.
A 2008 story (PDF) in the New York Law Journal calls Flom one of New York’s “premier philanthropists.”
