Tire Mogul Behind $23 Million Gift to Cleveland Museum of Art
- March 05, 2015 10:41
Cleveland Museum of Art is close to reaching its $320 million capital campaign goal for an expansion and renovation. On Wednesday, the identity of one of its biggest donors was made public in an effort to increse awareness of the fundraiser before year's end.
Since 2002, $297.1 million has been raised, according to a museum document released Tuesday.
Scott Mueller, 51, CEO of Dealer Tire, which he describes as the second largest tire distributor in the country, has been behind $23.3 million in gifts to the museum since 2009. In the past year, $19 million of that sum was a one-to-one matching challenge.
"I've had a lot of good fortune in my life," Mueller told Cleveland.com. "This is a way to make a contribution."
Additional Mueller money has backed acquisitions in contemporary art, including "Continuous Mile," by Liza Lou; "Anne Frank," by Keith Mayerson; "Rho 1," by Jack Whitten; and "Stairs," by Monika Sosnowska.
Mueller, who serves as vice chair of the museum's board of trustees, says he and other trustess want to strengthen holdings of modern and contemporary art at the Cleveland instiution.