Maurice Sendak, author of the classic children’s book Where the Wild Things Are, has donated $1 million to the New York City-based Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Sendak awarded the gift in honor of his life partner, Eugene D. Glynn, who died in 2007 after working for thirty years as a psychiatrist in the agency’s Youth Counseling League and as a scholar-in-residence. In recognition of the gift, which will be used for general operating support, the mental health and social services agency will name one of its fifteen clinics after Glynn.

“We consider ourselves a safety-net for some of the most vulnerable people in New York, many of whom do not have insurance or are not eligible for government assistance,” said JBFCS director of development and philanthropy Thom Hamill. “The gift will help ensure that [the agency] is able to continue providing life-altering and sometimes life-saving treatment to countless New Yorkers.”

courtesy: Philanthropy News Digest

JBFCS is a beneficiary agency in the UJA-Federation of New York network.