Peter S Bing

Peter (’55) and his wife, Helen, donated $50 million to Stanford University to build a world-class concert hall that provides a premier venue for both artists and audiences on the Stanford campus. The Bings have a long and distinguished history of supporting the university's highest priorities, including support for the university library and programs that helped revitalize undergraduate education—among them, freshman and sophomore seminars and Bing Honors College. Peter Bing, MD, earned his B.A degree at Stanford University, M.D. at Cornell University, and M.P.H. at the Harvard School of Public Health. He served as Executive Director of the National Advisory Commission on Health Manpower during the Johnson Administration, Chair and Member of the Board of Trustees of Stanford University, and President of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. He has supported numerous initiatives aimed at improving the lives of people, including the Bing Nursery School in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University which for over 50 years has served as the pre-eminent research setting for child development. At Stanford University, Dr. Bing has also supported many educational and cultural initiatives that include endowed professorships in support of undergraduate education and environmental sciences, the Bing Stanford Program in Washington DC, the Bing Overseas Study Program, the Bing Concert Hall for the Performing Arts, and the healing gardens at the Stanford University Medical Center. In partnership with Duke University, Dr. Bing and his wife Helen endowed the Rubenstein-Bing program to support student-athletes in under-resourced communities. At the Huntington Library, the Helen and Peter Bing Children’s Garden introduces children to the wonders of the natural world through interactive sculptural elements. Among his important stewardships, Dr. Bing supported the establishment of the Bing Center for WM at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in 2005 that aimed to advance the understanding of the cause of WM and pursuit of novel therapies. The Daily Mail reported that a Los Angeles judge ruled that Steve Bing and Elizabeth Hurley’s son Damian Hurley, 17, and his half-sister Kira Kerkorian, the daughter of Steve and former tennis pro Lisa Bonder, are beneficiaries to their grandfather, Dr. Peter Bing’s, trust. The trust is set to terminate in October 2020. Dr. Bing tried to cut the two out of his trust by attempting to clarify his interpretation of the term “grandchild.” Dr. Bing established his trust in 1980 to “benefit [his] future grandchildren,” who were born or adopted at a young age by Steve or Dr. Bing’s daughter, Mary. Dr. Bing argued that he did not intend for children who were born out of wedlock and who did not live in their parent’s home for a significant amount of time as a minor to be beneficiaries.