Helen Forman papers (MSS-0034)

Biographical/Historical Note

Helen Ginsburg Forman was born in 1911. Forman was raised in Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated from Rhode Island College of Education (RICE) in 1934, now called Rhode Island College (RIC). Forman became a school teacher shortly after, working with students from kindergarten to high school in various school districts in Warwick and Providence. In 1940, she married Sylvan Forman, a graduate of Bryant and Stratton College, who become a postal worker in Springfield, MA, and later was a supervisor at the U.S. Postal Transportation Office in Rhode Island. Together they had one child, Jeffrey. After retirement, Helen Forman spent her time volunteering for fundraising events at Rhode Island College and attended music, theater, and dance performances. In 1990, Sylvan Forman passed away, leaving Helen to make her first donation to RIC in her husband’s memory: $250,000 for the construction of an admissions office. Helen Forman died in 2005, leaving a $5.1 million donation to Rhode Island College, which at the time was the largest gift given by an individual to a public college in Rhode Island’s history. Two buildings at RIC are named for the Formans: the Helen Forman Theatre in the Nazarian Center and the Sylvan R. Forman Center Admissions Office.