Marilynn B. Alsdorf

1925–2019

The MCA is saddened by the passing of Life Trustee Marilynn Alsdorf, the first inaugural member of the MCA and the last founding trustee to pass, 52 years after the museum opened its doors. A devoted supporter of the MCA throughout her long tenure, Marilynn’s kindness, dedication, and passion for the arts will be greatly missed.

The Alsdorf family’s involvement with the MCA began when Marilynn and her late husband, James W. Alsdorf, and a small group of art enthusiasts established the Museum of Contemporary Art in 1967. Marilynn continued the family’s commitment to the museum with extensive philanthropic activity that connected the MCA with key cultural partners across the city. The title of James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator, currently held by Michael Darling, is named in fitting recognition of her family’s generosity to the museum and their support of the museum’s pursuit of excellence in art history and curatorial study.

Along with this endowment, Marilynn and James were renowned collectors of art and together built a wide-ranging collection of works from early renaissance to Indian and Southeast Asian to modern masters. The Alsdorf Foundation helped the MCA secure a particular work by Sol LeWitt (One-, Two-, Three-, and Four-Part Combinations of Vertical, Horizontal, and Diagonal Left and Right Bands of Color, 1993–94) which remains an esteemed addition to the MCA Collection.

In Recognition of 50 Years: Marilynn B. Alsdorf