Penn State Mont Alto is mourning the passing of one of its most successful alums and faithful supporters, Albert Kligman, who died on Feb. 9 at the age of 93. Kligman was internationally renowned as the inventor of Retina-A, the “anti-wrinkle cream.”
He was a resident physician, a research dermatologist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Kligman attended Penn State Mont Alto in 1936 as a forestry student. In 1998, he and his wife, Lorraine Kligman, gave a cash gift of $500,000 to the campus endowing two scholarships, the Albert and Lorraine Kligman Endowed Scholarship for Returning Students and the Albert and Lorraine Kligman Endowed Scholarship in Nursing. A philanthropist and one of the campus’ most faithful supporters, Kligman once told the campus it was not a matter of philanthropy but that he considered he was “just paying off debts.”
Kligman spent his childhood in Philadelphia. When his family did not have money to send him to college, Kligman wrote a letter to then Dean Cope, campus director, asking if there was any way he could attend Penn State Mont Alto. Cope offered him a job in the dining hall waiting on tables in return for his tuition, room and board. He went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in botany from Penn State and a doctorate in botany and a doctor of medicine degree both from the University of Pennsylvania.
“Dr. Kligman’s contributions to the world with his creation of Retin-A are immense,” said Penn State Mont Alto chancellor David Gnage, “and his contribution to Penn State Mont Alto through two scholarships he established with his wife are immeasurable as they afford current and future students the opportunity to follow in his success.”