For Immediate Release: October 20, 2022

Media Contact: treeoflife@westendstrategy.com

PITTSBURGH – Four years after the attack at the Tree of Life building in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, local foundations are investing in the initiative to transform a site of hate and tragedy into one of hope, remembrance and education. 

Four Pittsburgh-based foundations – the Henry L. Hillman Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, the PNC Foundation, and the Richard King Mellon Foundation – have each committed to a minimum $1 million gift to the REMEMBER. REBUILD. RENEW. campaign supporting the reimagined Tree of Life. 

“All of us in Pittsburgh were impacted in some way by the horrific events that took place on 10/27. As one of Pittsburgh’s largest employers, it is important for PNC to support the reimagined Tree of Life. We are committed to ensuring this institution, which has been a pillar of our community for more than 150 years, continues its important, expanded mission,” said William S. Demchak, chairman, president and chief executive officer of The PNC Financial Services Group. Demchak and his wife, Debbie, also serve on the campaign’s honorary cabinet, which is led by Rabbi Jeffrey Myers of Tree of Life, and includes actors Tom Hanks and Billy Porter, as well as Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and the late Joanne Rogers, wife of the beloved late Fred Rogers.

Primarily housed in a new building designed by Studio Libeskind, in collaboration with Rothschild Doyno Collaborative of Pittsburgh, the new Tree of Life will include exhibits that tell the story of that day as well as the roots and ongoing phenomenon of antisemitism. The new center will also house a memorial honoring the 11 people from three congregations – Tree of Life* Or L’Simcha Congregation, New Light Congregation and Congregation Dor Hadash – killed in the attack on October 27, 2018. It will also be an incubator for new ideas to counter antisemitism and provide educational programs and programs that inspire, prepare and empower people to join the movement against identity-based hate. 

“We are tremendously thankful to each of these foundations and for their deep commitment to our community and this project of renewal,” said Michael Bernstein, chair of the Tree of Life Interim Governance Committee (IGC), which is overseeing the development of the new 501(c)3 organization, its programs and the building. “This campaign is a communal endeavor, as is our healing, and these initial commitments are important as we begin to realize our vision to fight antisemitism. This is just the beginning, and we welcome all people, foundations and organizations to reach out and join us in this historic campaign.” 

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About the new Tree of Life 

As a pervasive form of identity-based hate, antisemitism is a destructive force that affects our entire society. Our community’s resilience in the face of a hate-fueled massacre has given root to a reimagined Tree of Life. Through remembrance, experience, and action, we educate and inspire individuals and communities from across our nation to recognize and stand up against antisemitism. Learn more: RememberRebuildRenew.org 

PNC Foundation,which receives its principal funding from The PNC Financial Services Group (www.pnc.com), actively supports organizations that provide services for the benefit of communities in which it has a significant presence. The foundation focuses its philanthropic mission on early childhood education and community and economic development, which includes the arts and culture. Through PNC Grow Up Great®, its signature cause that began in 2004, PNC has created a bilingual $500 million, multi-year initiative to help prepare children from birth to age 5 for success in school and life.

The Henry L. Hillman Foundation works to ensure that Pittsburgh’s considerable strengths, assets, and advantages are fully leveraged to make it one of the world’s most innovative and forward-looking cities, with a reputation for solving big problems through civic leadership and collaboration.

The Heinz Endowments seeks to help our region thrive as a whole and just community and, through that work, to model solutions to major national and global challenges. We are devoted to advancing our vision of southwestern Pennsylvania as a vibrant center of creativity, learning, and social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Our work is supported by reliable data based on equitable, results-focused goals to cultivate a world where all are treated with fairness and respect and have the opportunity to reach their fullest potential.

Founded in 1947, Richard King Mellon Foundation is the largest foundation in Southwestern Pennsylvania, and one of the 50 largest in the world. The Foundation’s 2021 year-end net assets were $3.4 billion, and its Trustees in 2021 disbursed $152 million in grants and program-related investments. The Foundation focuses its funding on six primary program areas, delineated in its 2021-2030 Strategic Plan.