Merle Chambers

Chambers was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Jerry G. Chambers and Evelyn Hemmings Chambers.{{cite web |url=http://www.coloradobusinesshalloffame.org/merle-chambers.html|title=Merle Chambers|publisher=Colorado Business Hall of Fame|access-date=7 November 2017}}{{cite web |url=https://www.chambersfund.org/evelyn-chambers.html|title=Evelyn Chambers|publisher=Chambers Family Fund|access-date=7 November 2017}} She graduated from the North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka in 1964.{{cite web |url=https://www.nscds.org/page/stanton-news-detail?pk=800293|title= Merle C. Chambers '64 (1999)|year=1999|access-date=7 November 2017|publisher=North Shore Country Day School}}

She earned her B.A. in political science at the University of California, Berkeley in 1968, where she was a student protester in free speech and civil rights demonstrations. She earned her J.D. at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and her M.A. in tax law at the University of Denver.

Chambers worked as an attorney in San Francisco before moving to Denver in 1977; she began working as an attorney in private practice in the latter city in 1978. In 1980 she founded and became chief executive officer of Axem Resources, a private oil and gas exploration and production firm, which she oversaw for 17 years until selling the company in 1997. Since 1997 she has been president and CEO of Leith Ventures, a private investment firm.

File:KirklandMuseumEx.jpg in Denver]]

In 1997 she established the Chambers Family Fund (renamed the Merle Chambers Fund). This private foundation supports social justice and equity, and women's economic security.{{cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Merle Chambers Fund Home Page|url=https://chambersfund.org/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=8 August 2020|website=|publisher=Merle Chambers Fund}} Historically, the foundation also supported early education.{{Cite web|title=Insights and Impact {{!}} Merle Chambers Fund|url=https://chambersfund.org/insights/|access-date=2020-08-17|language=en-US}} The fund established women's foundations in Wyoming and Montana in 1999{{Cite news|url=http://wfmontana.org/about-us/history/|title=History - Women's Foundation of Montana|work=Women's Foundation of Montana|access-date=2018-01-19|language=en-US}} and in Oklahoma in 2003.{{cite web |url=http://www.wfok.org/about/|title=About|publisher=Women's Foundation of Oklahoma|year=2017|access-date=7 November 2017}} Chambers was a significant donor for the establishment of the Merle Catherine Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women at the University of Denver. The foundation has supported various arts and culture organizations in Colorado, including the Denver Art Museum,{{cite web |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-81072672.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109081026/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-81072672.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 November 2017|title=A New View of Old West|work=Rocky Mountain News|date=20 October 2000|access-date=7 November 2017|url-access=}} which features the Merle Chambers and Hugh Grant Modern Gallery;{{cite web |url= http://www.westword.com/arts/the-denver-art-museum-likes-its-figure-5100456|title=The Denver Art Museum likes Its figure|first=Michael|last=Paglia|date=28 August 2008|access-date=7 November 2017|work=Westword}} the Colorado Ballet;{{cite web |url= https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-149714841.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171109081246/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-149714841.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= 9 November 2017|title=CSO plays through summer|first=Marc|last=Shulgold|work=Rocky Mountain News|date=19 August 2006|access-date=7 November 2017}} the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, to which the fund gave $2 million to Denver Arts & Venues toward the opening of the Chambers Grant Salon;{{cite web |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-136516102.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109081029/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-136516102.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 November 2017|title=Gala Celebrates New Opera House|first=Dahlia Jean|last=Weinstein|date=22 September 2005|access-date=7 November 2017|work=Rocky Mountain News}}{{cite web|url=http://www.artscomplex.com/venues/chambersgrantsalon/tabid/73/default.aspx|title=The Chambers Grant Salon|publisher=Denver Performing Arts Complex|access-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109081305/http://www.artscomplex.com/venues/chambersgrantsalon/tabid/73/default.aspx|archive-date=9 November 2017|url-status=dead}} the Clyfford Still Museum;{{cite web |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-173510489.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109081102/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-173510489.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 November 2017|title= Museum fundraising collects $25 million; Clyfford Still project 'seeing strong support'|first=Mary Voelz|last=Chandler|work=Rocky Mountain News|date=17 January 2008|access-date=7 November 2017}} and Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art.{{cite web |url= http://www.cpr.org/news/story/kirkland-museum-breaks-ground-new-denver-facility|title= Kirkland Museum Breaks Ground On New Denver Facility|first=Corey H.|last=Jones|date=11 September 2015|access-date=7 November 2017|work=Colorado Public Radio}}

In 2020, Merle Chambers launched [https://chambersinitiative.com/ Chambers Initiative], with an objective to empower systemic, sustainable change to create a more fair and just society.{{Cite web|title=Who We Are|url=https://chambersinitiative.com/who-we-are/|access-date=2020-08-17|website=Chambers Initiative|language=en-US}} Both Merle Chambers and Merle Chambers Fund are part of this broader philanthropic endeavor fueled by a heightened commitment in the areas of social justice and women's economic security.{{Cite web|title=Insights and Impact {{!}} Merle Chambers Fund|url=https://chambersfund.org/insights/|access-date=2020-08-17|language=en-US}} The goal of Chambers Initiative is to ensure that more people - particularly those most impacted by economic, social, and political injustice - have a good chance to reach their full potential.{{Cite web|title=Who We Are|url=https://chambersinitiative.com/who-we-are/|access-date=2020-08-17|website=Chambers Initiative|language=en-US}}

Chambers is an active contributor to state and national political campaigns. During the 1992 United States presidential election, she and Swanee Hunt hosted a $1,000-per-person fund-raising event called "Serious Women, Serious Issues, Serious Money". They chose to feature the Democratic candidates' wives, Hillary Clinton and Tipper Gore, rather than the male candidates themselves. While setting a fundraising goal of $1 million, they also invited 300 women whom they knew could not contribute large sums but who could participate in the exchange of ideas.{{sfn|Witt|Matthews|Paget|1995|pp=195–6}} According to Mother Jones, Chambers contributed $210,000 in soft money donations to the Democratic Party in 1992.{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-uYDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT47 |title=Footnotes|page=47|journal=Mother Jones|date=March–April 1993|volume=18|issue=2|last1=Jones|first1=Mother}} In 2015 Chambers and her (then) husband Hugh A. Grant co-hosted one fundraiser to benefit Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.{{cite web |url=http://www.denverpost.com/2015/08/03/hillary-clinton-to-raise-big-money-in-colorado-campaign-debut/|title=Hillary Clinton to raise big money in Colorado campaign debut|first=John|last=Frank|date=3 August 2015|access-date=7 November 2017|work=The Denver Post}}

A 2014, a Rocky Mountain News report identified Chambers as one of Colorado's top 10 political contributors between 2011 and 2013, with $430,260 in contributions. The report noted that "[m]any of Chambers' contributions focus on Democratic female leadership, including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota".{{cite web |url=http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/politics/elections/2014/11/02/stryker-tops-list-colorados-political-contributors/18391069/|title=Top 10 list of Colorado's political contributors|first1=Katie |last1=Kuntz|first2=Anna |last2=Boiko-Weyrauch|date=2 November 2014|access-date=7 November 2017|work=Coloradoan}}

During the 2024 elections, Chambers donated $200,000 to support Colorado Amendment 79, a measure to ensure abortion access in the state.{{Cite web |last=Paul |first=Jesse |date=2024-10-01 |title=Amendment 79: An attempt to preserve abortion access in Colorado’s constitution |url=https://coloradosun.com/2024/10/01/amendment-79-explained-colorado-abortion/#:~:text=Amendment%2079:%20An%20attempt%20to,used%20to%20pay%20for%20abortions. |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=The Colorado Sun |language=en-US}}

Chambers was the first woman to be inducted into the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States. She has represented the state of Colorado as an advisory board member of the National Petroleum Council, and was a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business.

She is a founding member and past president (1992) of the Women's Foundation of Colorado. She has been a trustee of the Temple Hoyne Buell Foundation and as a board member of the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Colorado Women's Forum, the Colorado Forum, the Denver Health and Hospitals Authority, and the Cherry Hills Village Council.

Chambers was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2004, the Rocky Mountain Oil & Gas Hall of Fame in 2009,{{cite web |url=https://www.westernenergyalliance.org/alliance/our-members/rocky-mountain-hall-of-fame|title=Rocky Mountain Hall of Fames|year=2017|access-date=7 November 2017|publisher=Western Energy Alliance}} and the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in 2010. She received the Korbel Humanitarian Award and the Evans Award from the University of Denver. She received the 2016 Community Service Award from the Bonfils–Stanton Foundation{{cite web |url=https://bonfils-stantonfoundation.org/leadership/annual-awards-program/past-honorees/merle-chambers/|title=2016 Honoree: Community Service|publisher=Bonfils–Stanton Foundation|year=2017|access-date=7 November 2017}} and was the 2017 Denver Stories honoree of the Curious Theatre Company.{{cite web|url=https://www.curioustheatre.org/merle-chambers/|title=Merle Chambers|year=2017|access-date=7 November 2017|publisher=Curious Theatre Company|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109135954/https://www.curioustheatre.org/merle-chambers/|archive-date=9 November 2017|url-status=dead}}

Chambers is divorced from Hugh A. Grant, founding director and curator of the Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art in Denver. Their home was noted for its art collection, considered "one of the best collections of 20th-century decorative arts in the United States".{{cite web |url=https://howtospendit.ft.com/house-garden/90443-homes-for-art-collections|title=Homes for Art Collections|first=Emma|last=Crichton-Miller|date=5 September 2015|access-date=8 November 2017|work=How to Spend It}}

Chambers is the third woman to have reached both the North and South Poles by plane.

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OtChCWOMPXoC&pg=PT195 |title= Running as a Woman: Gender and Power in American Politics|first1= Linda |last1=Witt|first2=Glenna |last2=Matthews|first3=Karen M. |last3=Paget|year=1995|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=143910610X}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zlV8qHPGKQ "Merle Chambers – Colorado Women's Hall of Fame" (video)]

{{Authority control}}

{{Colorado Women's Hall of Fame}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, Merle}}

Category:1946 births

Category:Living people

Category:American women business executives

Category:American women philanthropists

Category:UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni

Category:University of California College of the Law, San Francisco alumni

Category:University of Denver alumni

Category:People from Denver

Category:People from Chicago

Category:North Shore Country Day School alumni

Category:Philanthropists from Illinois