This earlier post noted the late Caroline Wiess Law’s bequest last year of almost 60 artworks valued at between $60-85 million to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.
In a remarkable development, this Chronicle article reports that the value of Ms. Wiess Law’s overall bequest to the MFA may end up generating more than $450 million, which would make the bequest one of the largest in the history of American philanthropy.
Mrs. Wiess Law, who died in 2003 at the age of 85, was one of Houston’s most generous donors to the arts and sciences. She was a longtime supporter of the MFA, the Houston Ballet, Houston Grand Opera, and the Houston Symphony, and also bequeathed $25 million to Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Mrs. Wiess Law was one of the three daughters of the marriage of Olga Keith and Harry C. Wiess, who was one of the founders of Humble Oil Co., the predecessor to Exxon Mobil. Mr. and Mrs. Wiess were founding members of the MFA, which has grown into the centerpiece of Houston’s Museum District just north of the Texas Medical Center.