Diana Georgescu and Vincent Lee

AR '75 and AR '77

"We have been contributing to Cooper Union’s Annual Fund since we graduated, and felt that the new building fund was another way to help the school that gave us our start. The Roof Terrace seemed appealing because it will visually demonstrate that all the donors are part of a continuum."

Diana Georgescu and Vincent Lee

We met each other in the second year architecture program in 1971, and have been partners since 1974, and partners in our own firm since 1985. We have twins, Laurie (Cooper Union A’09 student) and Charlie, a jazz musician at the New School (alas, we couldn’t steer him into architecture or engineering). We have been contributing to Cooper Union’s Annual Fund since we graduated, and felt that the new building fund was another way to help the school that gave us our start. The Roof Terrace seemed appealing because it will visually demonstrate that all the donors are part of a continuum.

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.