The Carnegie Science Center sign is being removed — but it’s not what you think.
It will eventually be re-named The Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Science Center after Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin gifted the museum a historic $65 million in January.
“Currently, the part of the facade needs repaired,” said Ned Schano, senior director of marketing for the science center. “It just happens to be where one of the building signs is located.”
The building is 34 years old and some of the paneling under the lettering needs some preventative maintenance, Schano said. The signage, which includes two other signage areas of the building that have the name of the science center, will be updated in the Kamins name but not until some time next year, Schano said.
Nothing will go in its place until that time, he added.
The new signage will be part of several updates to the science center, Jason Brown, Henry Buhl Jr. director of the science center and vice-president of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh told TribLive in January when the donation was announced. It will allow for so many great opportunities for the future of the science center, Brown said.
The Kamins’ gift is the largest monetary gift in the history of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh — the largest, that is, since the original contribution of founder Andrew Carnegie. Daniel Kamin, a Shady Side Academy graduate, is a commercial real estate entrepreneur and owner of Kamin Realty Management. He has sold real estate in 44 U.S. cities. As a child, he visited the Buhl Planetarium and the Institute of Popular Science, the precursor to the Carnegie Science Center.
The Kamins have been supporters of the Carnegie Museums for decades. Carole is an emeritus member of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History advisory board and a longtime member of the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Women’s Committee. She worked as a buyer and manager for the Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History gift shops.
The couple, who live in Shadyside, has donated to 175 smaller non-profits and organizations as well as larger ones, which amounts to more than 200 monetary gifts over the course of the year, said Dennis Reist, CFO and COO for Kamin Realty Management. They also have a family foundation.