IU Marks ‘Momentous Occasion’
Both Lois (pictured left) and Sidney (picture right) are Indiana University graduates.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe art museum on the campus of Indiana University has been renamed after a well-known philanthropic couple. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi have donated $15 million toward the extensive renovation of the site. It is the largest cash gift ever for the museum and one of the largest in the school’s history. IU will tack on $20 million in matching funds for the project.
Sidney Eskenazi says he considers the donation his family’s legacy gift. He continues to serve as chief executive officer of Sandor, the development company he founded in 1963.
The matching funds are associated with the $2.5 billion "For All: The Indiana University Bicentennial Campaign."
The work is set to be complete before the university marks its 200th anniversary in 2020. New York-based Ennead, the architect behind IU’s Global and International Studies Building and several high-profile museum, academic and hospital facilities throughout the world, will work with Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf of Indianapolis on the project.
The museum was built in 1941 and it was designed by internationally-acclaimed architect I.M. Pei. The couple will also be donating their personal collection of fine art, which includes nearly three dozen works by Joan Miró, as well as Marc Chagall, Alexander Calder and Salvador Dali.
IU President Michael McRobbie says Sidney Eskenazi has been donating to the university since setting up a scholarship in 1970. He and Lois previously gave $40 million toward the hospital formerly called Wishard in downtown Indianapolis that now bears their names.
You can connect to more about the donation and project by clicking here.
Sidney Eskenazi says he considers the donation his family’s legacy gift.
