$100K gift to renovate film facility at Purchase

Academy-award winning animation director Chris Wedge and his wife, Jeanne Markel, both alumni of Purchase College-SUNY, have donated $100,000 to the School of Film and Media Studies. The gift will help fund renovation of the film soundstage, providing students with a state-of-the-art facility for making movies.

Wedge is co-founder and vice president of creative development at Blue Sky Studios, which is now owned by Fox. Wedge directed Blue Sky”™s first two computer-animated feature films, “Ice Age” and “Robots.” He was executive producer of other hits including “Ice Age: The Meltdown,” “Rio” and “Dr. Seuss”™ Horton Hears a Who!”

Wedge was awarded Purchase”™s Presidential Distinguished Alumni Award in 2009 and served on the honorary committee for the college”™s Arts Gala 2012. 

Wedge said, “When colleges get it right, they produce graduates who are successful in their chosen path. Purchase College set me on my path and because of that I will always have a special affinity for my alma mater. One of the best ways I can demonstrate my loyalty to Purchase is by giving back. I appreciate the education this school provided for me and I want to make it possible for students in the future to benefit, too.”