Queer Places:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Ave, New York, NY 10028
Joan Tisch (née Hyman; July 14, 1927 – November 2, 2017) was an American philanthropist. She was a graduate of the University of Michigan and billionaire heir to the Tisch family fortune (through the Loews Corporation, which remains under family control).[1]
Tisch was born to Howard N. Hyman[2] and Marie Ziegler.[3] Her father was a Manhattan dentist who helped disabled war veterans attend theater and sporting events. He persuaded Jack Mara, then president of the New York Giants, to donate 400 seats for each home game to disabled fans and their companions, according to a news release from Loews upon his death in 1981.[3] Her mother was born in Germany.[4] In 1948, she received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Michigan[3] and married Preston Robert "Bob" Tisch (1926–2005), a fellow student and Brooklyn native, the same year. They had three children: Steve Tisch, Jonathan Tisch, and Laurie Tisch.[5][6][7][8]
In 1986, at the height of America’s AIDS crisis, Joan Tisch walked into the offices of New York’s Gay Men’s Health Crisis and asked to volunteer. It was a simple declaration that characterised her extraordinary spirit. Today, the Tisch name can be found throughout the city. ‘You could ask what would New York be without the Tisches,’ MoMA trustee Marie-Josée Kravis mused upon awarding the family the museum’s David Rockefeller Award in 2010. ‘I think a lot of institutions would be different.’ Of Joan Tisch’s many achievements, it is her work during the AIDS crisis with the Gay Men’s Health Crisis that remains most notable. ‘When Joan Tisch walked through the doors of GMHC in 1986,’ noted Marjorie J. Hill, the organisation’s former CEO, ‘no one could have predicted the impact she would have... let alone the influence she would exercise as one of the world’s most visible AIDS advocates and philanthropists.’
Tisch had lost several friends to AIDS, and understood the importance of personal volunteerism in fighting the virus. Whether she was stuffing envelopes or counselling patients, Tisch was a truly hands-on supporter. ‘For the first time in years of volunteering,’ she said of her early involvement with GMHC, ‘I had become emotionally involved.’ Joan Tisch’s appreciation for fine art was evident at the couple’s New York homes, where they lived surrounded by a striking collection of paintings, sculptures and works on paper. From bronzes by Alberto Giacometti and Henry Moore to boldly coloured canvases by Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Miró, Fernand Léger, Pablo Picasso and others, their collection was a dynamic lesson in 20th-century creativity. Tisch and her family sought to share this same visual and intellectual delight in the public sphere, as they contributed leadership and financial support to institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, home of the Tisch Galleries, and the Museum of Modern Art, where Joan Tisch served as a trustee and posthumously donated works by artists including Léger, Braque and Alberto Giacometti.
Reopened in 2010 after extensive renovation, the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College has received generous support from donors to sponsor new initiatives and programs. One of the first initiatives to benefit is the Joan H. Tisch Legacy Project, made possible with a $1.2 million five-year grant from the children of Joan Tisch. Urban public health issues, from diseases such as HIV/AIDS, obesity, and diabetes to health disparities due to economic and environmental factors, will be the focus of the new multidisciplinary initiative at Hunter College named in honor of Mrs. Tisch. Speaking on behalf of her brothers, Academy Award-winning producer Steven Tisch, and Loews Corp. Co-Chairman Jonathan Tisch, philanthropist and activist Laurie Tisch said, “we need to address these and other issues, and we need to do so with a comprehensive strategy. This is the overarching mission of the project at Hunter College that my brothers and I are proud to create in honor of our mother.”
Joan Tisch died on the morning of November 2, 2017, at the age of 90 after a brief illness.[9][10]
My published books:
