The Museum of Science and Industry was renamed after the richest person in Illinois, billionaire Ken Griffin.
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CThe Museum of Science and Industry in Hicago is now the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in recognition of a $125 million gift from the billionaire and former richest resident of Illinois.
“The donation, announced back in October 2019 and the largest in the museum’s history, will ensure that generations of visitors can continue to discover the wonders and joys of scientific research in one of the world’s leading science museums,” the museum said in a press release.
Griffin, the world’s forty first richest person, moved Citadel, his hedge fund, and Citadel Securities, his trading firm, from Chicago to Miami two years ago. citing crime and compares the Windy City to “Afghanistan on a good day.”
Last 12 months, Griffin has launched Griffin Catalysta philanthropic initiative that “embodies Griffin’s approach to civic engagement” and focuses on six areas: education, science and medicine, upward mobility, freedom and democracy, business and innovation, and communities.
“[This gift] allows us to reach deeper to support science education in local schools and neighborhoods in new, deeper ways; and it enables us to fulfill our mission of awakening the inventive spirit in all of us,” said Dr. Chevy Humphrey, President and CEO of Griffin MSI.
It is common for a donor’s name to be emblazoned on a museum (or university constructing) following an enormous donation. Just take a look at Harvard, where the brand new Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is being built was renamed after a $300 million donation from the billionaire.
On the opposite hand, nothing lasts endlessly. That’s even true in Pittsburgh, a city founded by the steel industry and where industrialist Andrew Carnegie’s name may be found in all places – in museums, libraries, a university, a serious highway and more. In January, the Carnegie Science Center announced that it will be renamed the Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Science Center in honor of a $65 million to one in every of Pittsburgh’s 4 Carnegie museums. The chimneyThe gift was the most important monetary donation for the reason that Carnegie Museums were founded in 1895.
In 2022, the Smithsonian Institution announced that Jeff Bezos, then the third richest person on the earth (now he’s No. 2), would receive his money for a brand new Smithsonian Learning Center after giving $200 million to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum donated.
Bezos’ donation agreement stipulated that his name would remain on the constructing for 50 years. Notably, the contract didn’t contain a morality clause that may have given the Smithsonian the correct to remove the billionaire’s name resulting from scandal, just as, for instance, the Metropolitan Museum removed the Sackler name from its galleries resulting from controversies surrounding the family’s role within the opioid epidemic. Epidemic.
Of course, not every philanthropist needs notoriety. The original donor of the Museum of Science and Industry was Julius Rosenwald, then president of Sears, Roebuck and Company didn’t want his name within the museum.
And renaming an establishment is one thing, making it famous is one other. Consider how the Sears name loomed large in Chicago for much of the twentieth century, literally gracing the town’s tallest skyscraper. But when London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings leased greater than 130,000 square feet of office space within the constructing in 2009, it was enough to secure a brand new name: Willis Tower. The deal included naming rights for 15 years, so it’s possible the tower’s name could change this 12 months.
Whatever happens, it’s value noting that Chicagoans never stopped calling it the Sears Tower.
