$1.5 Million Gift To Fund Endowed Chair In Art History

A $1.5 million gift from the Kleinheinz Family Endowment for the Arts and Education will establish an endowed chair in the Division of Art History at Meadows School of the Arts. The gift supports a major goal of SMU’s Second Century Campaign to endow 100 faculty positions.
The Kleinheinz Family Endowment for the Arts and Education is a private charitable foundation supported through generous contributions from Marsha and John B. Kleinheinz of Fort Worth (left). Their daughter, Marguerite, graduated from SMU in 2012 with a Bachelor’s degree in art history.
“We are very impressed with Marguerite’s experience at the Meadows School and SMU,” says Marsha Kleinheinz, president of the family foundation. “We want to support the future of the University that is so important to our family.”
John B. Kleinheinz, a Stanford University graduate, started his career as an investment banker engaged in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions for Nomura Securities and Merrill Lynch in Tokyo, New York and London. In 1996 he established Kleinheinz Capital Partners, Inc., a private investment management firm in Fort Worth.
Marsha Kleinheinz earned a B.B.A. degree from SMU in 1983. She is involved in several charitable organizations, including Gill Children’s Services, The Warm Place, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Van Cliburn Foundation, among others.
“Our art history faculty are doing remarkable new things that will change the way art is studied,” says Meadows Dean José Bowen. “With this generous gift, we will be able to recruit and retain outstanding professors and continue to enhance our reputation as one of the very best art history departments in the country.”