MUSEUM HONORS
The Craft Leadership Award
Benjamin and Jerry Dell Gimarc
Ben and Jerry Dell Gimarc, 2011 Craft
Leadership Award recipients, hardly believe
they have done anything exceptional in
their forty-five years of involvement with
the Museum. “We really don’t feel that
any of the things we have done with the
museum have been work. They are all
things we have been interested in and
enjoyed,” Ben explains.
The 2011 John Richard
Craft Leadership Award
Celebration
Celebrating Benjamin and
Jerry Dell Gimarc
Thursday, November 17, 2011
at the Columbia Museum of Art
This award celebration and
elegant annual dinner is a benefit
of membership for Taylor Society
members and above. Join the Taylor
Society to attend!
10
columbiamuseum.org
The Craft Leadership Award recognizes
those who demonstrate a sustained
commitment to the Museum over a long
period of time through major giving
and participation in Museum activities.
Over the years, Ben and Jerry Dell have
supported the Museum as members,
donors and volunteers.
Their passion for art has been a shared
experience throughout their marriage.
While living in Baltimore during the
Cuban Missile Crisis, Ben and Jerry Dell
made an end-of-the-world agreement.
Instead of joining the masses on a
congested escape route out of town, their
plan was to sneak a bottle of champagne
into the Baltimore Museum of Art to enjoy
a toast in the Cone collections. There,
surrounded by the works of Matisse,
Picasso, Cézanne and Gauguin, they would
wait for the missiles.
Ben has served two stints on the Museum’s
Board of Trustees and currently serves on
the Collections Committee. Together,
the Gimarcs have hosted parties and
dinners, given funds toward art purchases,
sponsored traveling exhibitions, supported
the Wadsworth Chamber Music Series and,
of course, lent their own art. This year Jerry
Dell has helped the Museum launch a new
affiliate membership group, the Friends of
African American Art and Culture. Their
ultimate contribution to the Museum will
be as a bequest through the Legacy Society.
“We want to see the Museum prosper,”
says Ben.
“Wherever we have lived—Baltimore,
Atlanta, Princeton, Charleston—we’ve been
museum members. When we travel we visit
art museums and galleries,” according to
Jerry Dell.
The Columbia Museum of Art is a place
of learning, celebration, and belonging,
according to the Gimarcs.
When Ben and Jerry Dell moved to
Columbia in 1966, they joined the
Museum immediately. “There was a
gala opening. It was a fabulous show of
modern art. We met people who cared
about art and who became friends,” says
Jerry Dell. “We’ve known every director
since founding director Jack Craft. Karen’s
leadership has expanded the Museum in so
many aspects. It has become the heart of
Columbia.”
“People’s lives are strongly influenced by
the Museum. It is a place to meet new
people with common interests. It is where
we expand our knowledge and appreciation
of art in its many aspects. It is a place
to celebrate occasions both joyous and
serious. It is a community we are proud to
be part of,” affirms Ben.