Nasher Family Gives $1 Million to Nasher Museum of Art

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Durham, NC -- Nancy A. Nasher and her husband David J. Haemisegger will give $1 million to the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University to endow a curatorship.

The curatorship will be named for Nancy Nasher’s late parents: the Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Curatorship of Contemporary Art. Raymond Nasher, who died in March, was the museum’s founder and namesake.

In addition, the university’s board of trustees has voted to name the museum’s lecture hall the Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family Lecture Hall, in recognition of their support of the museum. The lecture hall is housed in one of five pavilions that fan out from the museum’s Mary D.B.T. Semans Great Hall. The 173-seat lecture hall is a venue for artist lectures, dance and music performances, panel discussions, film series and Duke classes.

The gift brings the total to more than $11 million given to the museum by members of the Nasher family and its foundation. Raymond Nasher, a 1943 Duke graduate and former Duke trustee emeritus, provided the largest gift, $7.5 million, toward the new building. The Nasher Foundation of Dallas subsequently donated another $2.5 million in honor of Raymond Nasher.

“This gift is a wonderful way for the Nasher-Haemisegger family to continue its rich legacy of support for the Nasher Museum, which would not exist without Raymond Nasher and Nancy Nasher,” said Kim Rorschach, the museum’s Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Director. “The Nasher and Nasher-Haemisegger families have had a major influence on the visual arts and museums worldwide and continue to contribute to Duke and to the community.”

Nancy Nasher is a graduate of Duke Law School and a member of Duke’s Board of Trustees. She served on the development committee leading up to the opening of the Nasher Museum. She and her husband serve as members of the Nasher Museum’s board of advisors. She is a lifetime member of the law school’s board of visitors and served on the steering committee of the Campaign for Duke, the university's $2.36 billion fund-raising campaign that ended in 2003. She is also president of NorthPark Development Co. in Dallas and serves on the board of the Nasher Foundation.

“My father would often remark that art is like air and water -– it is needed to survive and to enjoy life to its fullest,” Nancy Nasher said. “David and I are proud to support my father’s vision for Duke to have one of the best university art museums in the world. It has become our own vision.”

The Nasher-Haemisegger gift will boost the Nasher Museum’s efforts to raise $10 million in new endowment funds to be used for named curatorships, art acquisitions, exhibitions and programs.
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The Nasher Museum of Art is a major arts center on Duke’s campus that serves the university, Research Triangle area and surrounding region with exhibitions and educational programs. The museum, designed by Rafael Viñoly, also includes a café and gift store.

The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday; and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays. Suggested admission is $5 adults, $4 for seniors and members of the Duke Alumni Association with membership card, $3 for non-Duke students with I.D. and free for children 16 and younger. Admission is free to Duke students, faculty and staff with Duke I.D. Admission is also free to Durham city residents who present a valid I.D. with proof of residency, courtesy of the Herald-Sun.

Additional information is available at <www.nasher.duke.edu>.