David Anderson Reception

Good evening! I am delighted to join all of you to celebrate the life and philanthropic vision of David Anderson.

Without question, he was one of the most influential and generous donors to the College of Arts and Sciences, and our university more broadly. His deep commitment to the visual arts in higher education resulted in the creation of this gallery as an outstanding academic center and learning environment for future students of art. Anderson’s extremely generous and multi-faceted gift to UB perfectly aligns with our university’s commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching. It allows UB to offer experiential learning and object-based research as well as new opportunities for our students to pursue graduate studies through direct participation in the arts.

Indeed, David Anderson has left a remarkable legacy at UB through his generosity. His influence will be felt for generations to come because he gave so much more to UB than this beautiful museum we are in tonight. He provided UB with nearly 1,500 important, modern and contemporary works of art. He also established an endowment fund for this museum, ensuring that it would continue to operate without the need for substantial additional support.

In addition, David Anderson recognized the importance of:

• maintaining archival material from the ground-breaking activities of the Martha Jackson Gallery,
• as well as his own life-time commitment to the preservation and promotion of fine art.

The Martha Jackson Gallery Archive, which documents more than 120,000 Post-World War II works of art, draws many scholars, artists, curators and others to the UB Anderson Gallery. It also highlights the exciting role of the Martha Jackson and David Anderson in the discovery and promotion of many extraordinary artists who were associated with her Gallery.

We are so pleased to welcome the family of some of these artists who have joined us tonight for our celebration—including Suzanne Jenkins. And although he was not able to travel from Cleveland, Julian Stanczak assisted with the production of a broadside to commemorate this celebration that will be distributed to all of you at the end of the evening.

I sincerely thank you for your continued support of our university and welcome you to UB’s Anderson Gallery. Most profoundly, we thank and recognize David Anderson and his family for their understanding of and contributions to the educational mission of our university and, most directly, the College of Arts and Sciences. His philanthropy and vision have had a sustained and deeply meaningful impact on the study of art at UB. And they will continue to be most influential in enhancing our academic excellence in the humanities for years to come.

Thank you.