Energy investment banker Tom Petrie will donate $5 million to the Denver Art Museum to endow the museum’s Institute of Western American Art, officials said Tuesday.
Petrie is a vice chairman of Merrill Lynch and headed Denver-based Petrie Parkman & Co., a major energy investment firm, until its sale last year to Merrill Lynch.
Petrie also has agreed to a long-term loan of pieces from his comprehensive collection of works by Western artist Charles M. Russell for display at the museum. The facility’s Western art initiative will be named “The Petrie Institute of Western American Art.”
“As the Denver Art Museum is at the geographic center of the Rocky Mountain West, our goal is to create one of the most internationally respected centers of Western American art,” said Peter Hassrick, director of the institute.
The $5 million dollar pledge includes a $3 million cash gift, followed by a $2 million “challenge” grant. Petrie will match other financial gifts to the endowment on a dollar-for-dollar basis, up to $2 million. The museum hopes to raise a total of $10 million to endow the institute.
