Sidney Kimmel is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and founder of Jones Apparel Group, Inc., a Fortune 500 company employing over 13,000 people worldwide, with offices and warehouses in seven states as well as Canada and Mexico. 

Mr. Kimmel has led the growth of Jones since its founding in the mid-1970s to be one of the world’s leading designers and marketers of branded apparel, footwear and accessories, with such internationally recognizable brands as Jones New York, Bandolino, Nine West, Evan-Picone, Gloria Vanderbilt, Joan & David, Enzo Angiolini, and l.e.i. 

Since 1993, the Sidney Kimmel Foundation and its subsidiary, the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research, have committed more than $495 million to various philanthropic causes. 

Nearly three-quarters of these gifts have been to advance cancer research through the establishment of cancer centers around the country. Most significantly, the Foundation has funded the establishment of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, the nation’s leading medical center according to U.S. News & World Report. In addition, the Foundation has created the Sidney Kimmel Prostate and Urologic Cancers Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York as well as cancer research centers bearing Mr. Kimmel’s name in San Diego and at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Mr. Kimmel has also funded the Kimmel Scholars Program, which each year, through a distinguished board of cancer researchers personally assembled by Mr. Kimmel, provides research grants to the nation’s most promising young cancer researchers. There are 160 recipients to date of these awards.

Mr. Kimmel’s philanthropic efforts extend well beyond the world of cancer research and reflect his strong dedication to his hometown of Philadelphia as well as performing arts, education and Jewish continuity. He is the lead donor to the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, which is one of the most unique physical structures of modern architecture, designed by Rafael Viñoly, and now home to the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also funded the construction of a theater at the National Constitution Center. He has made significant gifts to the National Holocaust Memorial in Washington, D.C. and major endowment gifts to the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and the Raymond and Ruth Perelman Jewish Day School. Most recently, Mr. Kimmel has announced the lead gift for the redevelopment of the National Museum of American Jewish History, located on the center of Independence Mall in Philadelphia.

Mr. Kimmel is also a partner in Cipriani International, a world-renowned restaurant and caterer, and is part owner of the Miami Heat. His film company, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, has produced such popular films as 9 1/2 Weeks, Clan of the Cave Bear, Blame It on Rio and, most recently, The Emperor’s Club.

Among many awards, Mr. Kimmel received the first-ever Medal of Honor for Cancer Philanthropy from the American Cancer Society in 2006. He has also received the American Cancer Society’s Humanitarian Award in 1999, the American Jewish Committee’s National Human Relations Award in 2000, and the Musser Award for Excellence in Leadership from Temple University in 2002.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Mr. Kimmel resides with his wife, Caroline, in Palm Beach, Florida.