Iris Cantor

Born Iris Bazel on February 14, 1931, as the eldest daughter of Fay and Al Bazel, she grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York City. Her mother was originally from Pennsylvania and her father was a Jewish Russian immigrant. Her younger sister Enid was born three years later.{{cite web|url=http://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/New-York/Iris-Bazel_46vkz|title=Ancestry.com Abstract of 1940 US Census document|website=Ancestry.com}}

File:'Iris, Messenger of the Gods' by Auguste Rodin, bronze, modeled 1891.JPG by Auguste Rodin, bronze, modeled 1891, property of Iris Cantor]]

Drawn to Manhattan, she worked as a fashion model and stockbroker before eventually being hired by bond brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald around 1967, as an executive secretary. In 1977, she married the firm's founder and majority owner, Bernard Gerald Cantor. It was her third marriage, and lasted nearly 20 years until his death in 1996.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/06/arts/b-gerald-cantor-philanthropist-and-owner-of-rodin-collection-isdead-at-79.html|title=New York Times, July 06, 1996 - B. Gerald Cantor, Philanthropist and Owner of Rodin Collection, Is Dead at 79, By Eric Pace|newspaper=The New York Times|date=6 July 1996|last1=Pace|first1=Eric}} By this time, "Bernie" Cantor had amassed a fortune said to exceed $500 million, receiving $50 million in annual dividends as of 1995.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cF8EAAAAMBAJ|title=Los Angeles Magazine, Jul 1998 p100-105 The Belle of Bel-Air|date=July 1998}}

Subsequent to his business success, Bernie Cantor became a well-regarded art collector, and most notably had acquired over 750 sculptures and drawings by Auguste Rodin, and many American and European masters' paintings.

In 1978, the year after their union, the Cantors founded the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation as a vehicle for their philanthropy. In 1996, after acrimonious litigation with her husband's successor,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/28/business/with-partners-like-these-who-needs-rivals.html|title=New York Times, April 28, 1996 - With Partners Like These, Who Needs Rivals? by Diana Henriques|newspaper=The New York Times|date=28 April 1996|last1=Henriques|first1=Diana B.}} Mrs. Cantor sold her inherited 55% stake to the 170 limited partners of Cantor Fitzgerald, and the company agreed to additionally fund the foundation.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-05-08-fi-1793-story.html|title=Los Angeles Times, May 8, 1996 - Cantor Fitzgerald Pact Puts an End to Infighting by The Associated Press Staff|website=Los Angeles Times|date=8 May 1996 }}

Over the years, the foundation has donated approximately 450 Rodin pieces to museums around the world, with many going to New York's Metropolitan Museum and Brooklyn Museum, Stanford University and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

In addition to the artworks, the foundation has financed numerous museum and university expansions:

• Metropolitan Museum of Art: the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall, the B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Galleries and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, with gifts of $11.5 million (as of 1994).{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/19/style/the-evening-hours.html|title=New York Times, Dec 19, 1986 - The Evening Hours by Nadine Brozan|newspaper=The New York Times|date=19 December 1986|last1=Brozan|first1=Nadine}}
• Brooklyn Museum of Art: the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium.{{cite web|url=http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/exhibitions/2731/Rodin%3A_The_Cantor_Gift_to_The_Brooklyn_Museum|title=BrooklynMuseum.org - The Cantor Gift to The Brooklyn Museum}}
• Stanford University: 268 Rodin pieces formed the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, with a $10 million donation in 1994.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/31/style/chronicle-631213.html|title=New York Times, Mar 31, 1994 - The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for the Visual Arts at Stanford, By Nadine Brozan|newspaper=The New York Times|date=31 March 1994|last1=Brozan|first1=Nadine}}
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 114 pieces plus the B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Garden
• New York University's Tisch School of the Arts: Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Film Center, plus permanent scholarship fund, and Faye's Cafe, named in honor of her mother.{{cite web|url=http://www.tisch.nyu.edu/object/cantor_gift.html|title=New York University, Tisch School of the Arts website|access-date=2013-04-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705115534/http://www.tisch.nyu.edu/object/cantor_gift.html|archive-date=2011-07-05|url-status=dead}}
• College of the Holy Cross - The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery{{cite web|url=http://offices.holycross.edu/cantorartgallery|title=Holy Cross website|access-date=2013-04-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130421045020/http://offices.holycross.edu/cantorartgallery|archive-date=2013-04-21|url-status=dead}}

Since 1995, she has been a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum and the Brooklyn Museum, as well as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and North Carolina Museum of Art among others.{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/annual-reports/~/media/Files/About/Annual%20Reports/2011_2012/board%20of%20trustees.pdf|title=Met Museum website, Board of Trustees in Annual Report}}

She has made additional donations to medical facilities and foundations:

• UCLA Health System - Cantor established the Iris-Cantor - UCLA Women's Health Center in 1995. She has been involved with the UCLA Foundation since 1989, and has served as a Foundation Governor since 2005.{{cite web|url=http://womenshealth.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=47|title=UCLA Website: Iris Cantor - UCLA Women's Health Center About Page|access-date=2012-12-27|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053229/http://womenshealth.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=47|url-status=dead}}
• NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell - donated the funds for eleven birthing rooms, two operating rooms, and a waiting rooms in 1996. She donated $5 million in 2002 to form the Iris Cantor Women's Health Center, and $20 million in 2010, to launch the Iris Cantor Men's Health Center,{{cite web|url=http://nyp.org/news/hospital/mens-health-center.html|title=NewYork Presbyterian Hospital website}} the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Ambulatory Surgery Center, and the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Laboratory for Immunological Research in Diabetes.
• Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center - funded a Senior Chair in 2007.{{cite web|url=http://www.mskcc.org/pressroom/press/iris-cantor-funds-senior-chair-msk|title=Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Press Release April 18, 2007}}
• David Geffen School of Medicine - donated $8 million to improve the school's women's health curriculum.{{Cite web|url=http://dailybruin.com/2018/10/01/school-of-medicine-receives-10m-grant-to-develop-womens-health-treatment/|title=School of Medicine receives $10M grant to develop women's health treatment|website=dailybruin.com|language=en|access-date=2019-08-01}}

Cantor has sat on the board of trustees of New York-Presbyterian Hospital since 1989.{{cite web|title=Hospital Leadership - Board of Trustees|url=http://nyp.org/about/board-trustees.html|publisher=New York Presbyterian|access-date=7 July 2019}} Other board memberships include Exploring the Arts, and the dean's committee of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

Cantor has received numerous awards and honorary degrees, including a National Medal of Arts awarded by President Clinton in 1995.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/06/style/chronicle-128395.html|title=New York Times, Oct 06, 1995 By Nadine Brozan|newspaper=The New York Times|date=6 October 1995|last1=Brozan|first1=Nadine}} For her work promoting appreciation for the French sculptor Auguste Rodin, she was made a Knight in France's Legion of Honour in 2000;{{cite web|url=http://www.holycross.edu/departments/publicaffairs/hcm/summer03/news/commencement.html|title=Introduction of Iris Cantor at 2003 Commencement Address|website=College of the Holy Cross|access-date=11 August 2021|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810234234/https://www.holycross.edu/departments/publicaffairs/hcm/summer03/news/commencement.html|archive-date=10 August 2021}} upgraded to an Officer on 20 March 2017.{{cite web|title=French government thanks Rodin lover Iris Cantor|first=Shannon|last=Donnelly|website=National Archives - Léonore Database|location=France|date=15 April 2017|language=fr|url=https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/lifestyles/french-government-thanks-rodin-lover-iris-cantor/MgmcPs4rOAkUKWTl0yVySL/|access-date=11 August 2021|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811024939/https://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/lifestyles/french-government-thanks-rodin-lover-iris-cantor/MgmcPs4rOAkUKWTl0yVySL/|archive-date=11 August 2021}}

In 2011, she sold the 34,000 square foot Bel-Air mansion that Bernie had built for her, for a reported $40 million.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-jun-09-la-hm-hotprop-iris-cantor-20110609-story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110618120815/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/09/home/la-hm-hotprop-iris-cantor-20110609|url-status=live|archive-date=June 18, 2011|title=Los Angeles Times, June 09, 2011 - Bel-Air mansion built for Iris Cantor sells for $40 million, By Lauren Beale|website=Los Angeles Times|date=9 June 2011 }}

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{{National Medal of Arts recipients 1990s}}

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Category:1931 births

Category:Living people

Category:American art collectors

Category:Philanthropists from New York (state)

Category:American women philanthropists

Category:Women art collectors

Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour

Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients

Category:Philanthropists from California

Category:People from Bel Air, Los Angeles

Category:People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn

Category:Female models from New York (state)

Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent

Category:20th-century American women

Category:20th-century American philanthropists

Category:21st-century American women