# Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation

Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation is an Endowment / Foundation based in New York, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Endowment / Foundation
- **Headquarters:** New York, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** New York, NY, United States
- **Founded:** 1986
- **Assets under management:** ~$150 million (Altss estimate)

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

Founded in 1986 in New York, the Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation channels wealth generated by the Seaver family's control and eventual disposition of Hydril Company — a manufacturer of pressure-control equipment for oil and gas drilling. Trustees Hirschell Levine, a partner at accounting firm Withum Smith & Brown, and John Cohen oversee the foundation's grantmaking, which is heavily concentrated in medical research and Jewish communal organizations. The wealth creator, Samuel A. Seaver, served as an executive at Hydril before the company's sale, and the foundation operates as a classic 501(c)(3) private foundation rather than a family office with active investment operations. The foundation's deployment is laser-focused on a handful of institutional grantees. Additional giving flows to hospitals, human-services providers, and Jewish federations, primarily in the New York metropolitan area. The foundation does not operate direct investment programs, venture arms, or co-investment vehicles; its capital is managed through a conventional investment portfolio that includes at least one directly held commercial property — 10 West 33rd Street in Manhattan — alongside traditional marketable securities. The foundation reports approximately $149 million in assets (Altss estimate), a scale that places it among the mid-sized single-family philanthropies operating without permanent staff or a public website. The trustees run the foundation alongside their professional practices: Levine through Withum's New York office and Cohen through direct advisory work. Christopher Seaver, son of Richard Seaver and nephew of Hydril executive Frank Seaver, represents the family's next generation and previously served as CEO of Hydril Company, maintaining the link between the operating business legacy and the philanthropic vehicle. No separate impact-investing arm, donor-advised fund platform, or membership in peer networks like the Philanthropy Roundtable has been disclosed. What distinguishes the Seaver Foundation structurally is its concentrated, long-tenured trustee model paired with near-total institutional anonymity. Unlike family offices that evolve into multi-generational wealth management platforms, the foundation has remained a pure grantmaker for four decades, with no evidence of direct investing, external fundraising, or operational expansion. The lack of a website, professional staff, or public disclosure beyond IRS Form 990 filings reflects a governance posture closer to a family trust than a modern institutional foundation — a structure common among first- and second-generation philanthropies that prioritize quiet stewardship over brand-building.

## Sectors

- Healthcare Services
- Education

## People

- Hirschell Levine — Trustee
- John Cohen — Trustee

## Questions

### Where does the Seaver Foundation's wealth originate?

The wealth traces back to the Seaver family's ownership and eventual sale of Hydril Company, a manufacturer of pressure-control equipment used in oil and gas drilling. Samuel A. Seaver, for whom the foundation is named alongside his wife Beatrice, was a Hydril executive. The company's sale generated the capital that endows the foundation.

### What organizations receive the majority of Seaver Foundation grants?

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai are the foundation's two most prominent and enduring grantees. The Seaver Autism Center naming reflects a transformational gift. Additional funding supports hospitals, human services organizations, and Jewish communal institutions, primarily in New York.

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Last updated: 2026-08-11T02:43:31.692Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/beatrice-and-samuel-a-seaver-foundation

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