Who

Heir to the Gund family fortune, "Aggie" is a major patron of the Museum of Modern Art, and served as the museum's president for more than a decade.

Backstory

The second of six children born to George Gund II, who presided over the once-giant Cleveland Trust Company (and also made a fortune with Sanka decaffeinated coffee), Gund says she hated being dragged through van Gogh exhibits as a child. Thankfully for the many arts organizations that have benefited from her generosity over the years, the early aversion didn't last. In 1976, Gund joined MoMA's board; a year later, she founded Studios in Schools to promote art education after budget cuts during the city's financial crisis resulted in the elimination of art classes in New York City public schools. In the early '80s, Gund's passion for art led her back to school and she earned a master's in art history from Harvard. In 1991 she succeeded Donald Marron as president of the MoMA, an organization she'd tirelessly supported for years.

Of note

As MoMA president from 1991 to 2002, Gund played a key role in recruiting Glenn Lowry as director, negotiating the museum's merger with P.S.1 in 1999, and shepherding its $858 million expansion. Her work raising hundreds of millions of dollars permitted the museum to make a suite of major acquisitions during the 1990s, and she was also rather generous herself, gifting more than 150 pieces from her own collection, including works by Jasper Johns and Chuck Close.

Gund's tireless service and generosity was acknowledged when the garden lobby at the new MoMA was named in her honor. But while she remains revered by members of New York's arts establishment, she's had her less distinguished moments. A minor controversy erupted when it was revealed that Gund (along with David Rockefeller) had set up a trust to funnel cash to Glenn Lowry, which provided him nearly $5 million in additional compensation on top of his $1.3 million salary, an arrangement which enabled her to keep Lowry's compensation off the museum's books, presumably to avoid a public outcry. The generally negative critical reaction to the new MoMA building also stung. But it's hard to quibble with her generosity to the art community. In at least one case, she was forced to sell pieces from her personal collection to make good on large monetary pledges she made to various arts institutions.

Trophy case

President Clinton awarded Gund the National Medal of Arts in 1997. She was awarded a Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2005.

Personal

Gund has been married to her second husband, attorney Daniel Shapiro, since 1987. She has four children with her first husband. Gund and Shapiro live at 765 Park Avenue, and also have homes in Ohio and Kent, Conn. Naturally, the couple's homes feature prized pieces from their own collection of art, including works by Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Frank Stella.

Family ties

Agnes's brothers, George and Gordon Gund, are former owners of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the San Jose Sharks NHL team.