Our People

Biography

Melva Bucksbaum is a devoted art patron, philanthropist and collector of contemporary art. Melva serves on the Board of American Friends of the Israel Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She is also a member of the Committee on Collections of Harvard University; Christie’s American Advisory Board; the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); and The International Committee of the Tate Gallery in United Kingdom. Since 1995, Melva has been actively managing the Martin Bucksbaum Family Foundation, and is currently a Director of the Robert I. Goldman Foundation. In 1996, Melva and her family endowed the Martin Bucksbaum Professorship in Urban Planning and Design, a chair position in the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Melva also endowed the Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture Series at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. In 2000, Melva and her children inaugurated the Bucksbaum Award, which is given to an artist of distinction and promise selected from those artists represented in the Whitney Biennial. Each artist receives $100,000 and is honored with a show at the Whitney. In 2004, Melva and her daughter, Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan, gave two major outdoor installation sculptures by Joel Shapiro and Sally Pettus to the Des Moines Art Center, to be placed on loan to the City of Des Moines. Melva is married to Raymond Learsy; they reside in Sharon, Connecticut.