Then, on a beautiful day this past June, with Buffett and Gates as co-hosts, FORBES, as only it could, gathered 161 billionaires or near-billionaires at the New York City Public Library.

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Mr. Berman, 44, recently combed through past phone books stored on microfilm at the New York Public Library as a way to track the growth of the city's pizza industry.

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She still participates in fundraising activities for the New York City public schools, and is joining Laura Bush and Lynda Bird Johnson Robb to help the Library of Congress promote literacy through a new awards program, along with other authors, publishers and scholars.

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She was one of the city's leading philanthropists, awarding millions of dollars to institutions, most notably the New York Public Library.

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