LONG BEACH : Nonprofit Firm to Be Key Backer of Queen Mary
A nonprofit corporation backed by Robert Gumbiner, chairman of the board of FHP Health Care and a wealthy philanthropist, has emerged as the key financial backer of a plan to reopen and run the Queen Mary, sources said Friday.
The Long Beach City Council on Dec. 22 awarded a five-year operating lease to Queen Mary Partners Ltd., a for-profit group of investors headed by Joseph F. Prevratil. But that group never finalized the lease.
Prevratil, who ran the Queen Mary in the mid-1980s, recently turned to RMS Foundation Inc., backed by Gumbiner, to raise the $5 million in cash and loan guarantees needed to reopen the ship. Prevratil, who said he wants to reopen the Queen Mary in the next few weeks, decided to go with a nonprofit group because the ship is a “public type of icon.” The council is scheduled on Tuesday to amend the lease to allow the change.
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