Abrams sets tone for alumni success in Hollywood

An alumnus who has built an award-winning career while consistently serving as a resource for others ranks as one of Penn State’s pioneers in the entertainment industry.

Gerry Abrams (’61 Bus), the chairman of Cypress Point Productions, has more than 50 years of television experience, ranging from account executive to sales manager and executive producer. He has produced more than 70 films, including “Houdini” (which was the top-rated cable TV miniseries of 2014) and the Emmy Award-winning miniseries “Nuremberg” and “Out of the Ashes.”

He was honored as “Producer of the Year” by the Hollywood Caucus Group in 2004.

Abrams, who was named as an Alumni Fellow in 1981 and recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of the University in 1986, regularly volunteers for his alma mater, too. He has served on the Alumni Council for the University and the Alumni Society Board for the Bellisario College. He’s also on the board for the Penn State Hollywood Program.

His late wife, Carol (Kelvin) Abrams (’63 Lib) was an accomplished and award-winning independent producer. She earned a Peabody Award for “The Ernest Green Story,” a film she produced for the Disney Channel in 1994.

The couple made a $100,000 gift to the University in 2009 to support film students. That gift supported the existing Samuel D. and Lillian K. Abrams Senior Film Endowment. Abrams and his mother, Lillian, initially created that endowment to honor his father, the late Samuel Abrams, in 1992.