NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center announced today that Ronald O. Perelman, chairman of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., has made a $50 million gift to the Medical Center to be equally divided between NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College, in support of health care in New York City and around the world. The gift will establish the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute, and support new research and clinical care initiatives at the internationally renowned Center for Reproductive Medicine — which will now be known as the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine.

The new Heart Institute will function as a “medical town square” complete with a patient-friendly welcome center, a clinical trials enrollment center, and an interactive education resource center that will include the latest medical information on heart disease — with an added focus on cardiac disease in women. And the newly named Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine will be uniquely positioned to build upon Weill Cornell’s tradition of groundbreaking developments that have changed the lives of people by making it possible for them to have a child.

Mr. Perelman is a member of the Board of Trustees of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the Board of Overseers at Weill Cornell Medical College.

He was born into a Conservative Jewish family but now belongs to an Orthodox Shul. He keeps kosher and is Shomer Shabbos, according to the book “Stars of David.”