Maurice Kanbar's philantropy has been spreading around the country for a long time, but with the announcement of a new performance space named for him at the Exploratorium (see above), it's getting a bit confusing. Be sure never to say "meet you at the Kanbar" because that will leave the listener with a range of options:
* The Kanbar Forum at the Exploratorium
* Jewish Community Center SF's Kanbar Hall
* San Francisco Girls Chorus' Kanbar Performing Arts Center
* The Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television in New York City
And there may well be more. San Francisco Film Society, which has been a favored beneficiary of Kanbar's support, has the major Kanbar Award for Screenwriting, given each year at the S.F. International Film Festival.
Kanbar's career is spectacular in many ways. The Mensa member and vodka emperor — of SKYY vodka, Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream Liqueur, Blue Angel Premium Vodka, etc. — has also created New York's first multiplex cinema, the Quad Cinema, the first movie theater in Manhattan to have four small auditoriums in one building. (Just try to find a single-screen theater anywhere.)