MUSEUMS IN MIAMI

“I believe people of success should give back and I think that’s what Jorge is doing,” Podhurst said. “To me, this is the American dream in action.”

Joining the ranks of major givers in Miami, developer Jorge Pérez has pledged to donate $35 million in cash and art from his personal collection to the new Miami Art Museum, which will bear his name when it opens in two years. The donation includes $5 million that Pérez has already pledged and partially paid; an additional $15 million for the capital campaign and $15 million worth of Latin American art to be chosen by the museum.

A $35 million gift from billionaire entrepreneur Phillip Frost and his wife, Patricia, will see the Miami Science Museum renamed the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science when its new building opens in 2014. The couple also gave a $33 million naming gift to the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami in 2003 and a $2 million naming gift to the Frost Museum of Art at Florida International University in 2002.