Perelman, who was born in North Carolina and raised in Pennsylvania, describes himself as “a very religious, committed Jew”. He says he did not have an Orthodox upbringing but resolved to bring up his own children in a more observant manner after a moving first trip to Israel at the age of 18. Jewish education has also been a focus of his philanthropy, which this year has featured a $25m gift to his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, and a $100m donation for a new innovation centre at Columbia Business School.
Music is another focus and this weekend he is in Britain to support a Carnegie Hall initiative to create America’s first National Youth Orchestra. After two weeks of training in New York, 120 musicians aged 16 to 19 will perform this Sunday at the Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall. Valery Gergiev is conducting, and the US violinist Joshua Bell appears as a soloist. “I love music, and I think music for kids is particularly powerful,” Perelman says. Did you play growing up? I ask. He says he has been “a frustrated drummer” since he was 13, and keeps sets in New York and at his Hamptons beach house, insisting that any band playing on his property let him join them. As a result he has accompanied Al Green and Billy Joel, performed a New York show with Jon Bon Jovi and played one song with Rod Stewart at Madison Square Garden. Not that frustrated, then.
Perelman has also spent a fortune on art by Richard Serra, Cy Twombly and Roy Lichtenstein. Last year he traded lawsuits with Gagosian, a longtime friend, over “Popeye”, a $4m Jeff Koons sculpture. (Perelman accused the powerful dealer of cheating, alleging he had hidden a contract entitling Koons to 70 per cent of the profit from any resale. Gagosian called Perelman a deadbeat and a bully. A weary judge urged the two sort out their differences “at a cocktail party in the Hamptons this summer” before she had to write a decision but this has not happened).