Norma Lerner and her late husband and former Case trustee, Alfred Lerner, gave $100 million to endow the new Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, a distinctive new program that trains medical students who will have a solid combination of clinical and research skills and a passion for scientific inquiry. This gift solidified the ongoing partnership to medical education and research between Case and the Clinic. In addition to their gifts to Case, the Lerner family has been renowned for civic contributions to the Cleveland community and their long-time connections with the National Football League and its Cleveland Browns. Lerner, like her late husband of 47 years who died in 2002, has served Cleveland through her work as a trustee for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, co-founder of the Lerner Research Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, trustee for the Musical Arts Association that oversees the Cleveland Orchestra, board member of the MBNA Grants and Scholarship Program, founding member of the Marine Corps Heritage Museum, director and board member of Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, honorary chair of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation Digestive Disease Center’s Leadership Board and co-chair of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation Brain Tumor Institute’s Leadership Board. She also has spearheaded a number of gala fund-raising events, including University Hospitals of Cleveland’s Five Star Sensation, which raised nearly $1 million at each of two events, the Cleveland Orchestra’s “A Night of Vienna” in 2003, the gala opening of the newly renovated Severance Hall and the Annual Ball of the American Red Cross. Originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., Lerner attended Samuel J. Tilden High School and Long Island University. She received an honorary degree in humane letters from Cleveland State University in 2001.

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