Dance, Aids Research Benefactor Is Dead At 73

Paper magnate Howard Gilman, a benefactor of dance, endangered species and AIDS research, has died. He was 73.

Gilman, who Saturday died from a heart attack, was chairman and chief executive officer of Gilman Paper Co., the country’s largest privately held paper company.

The St. Marys, Ga., firm was founded in 1884 by Gilman’s grandfather, but it was Gilman who steered it to the top after taking over in 1973.

He supported numerous dance companies, including the American Ballet Theatre in New York. In 1989, he set up the White Oak Dance Project as a place where choreographers could collaborate and as a venue for his friend, dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov.

He collected photographs, which were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. In October, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened The Howard Gilman Gallery.