Wallis Annenberg
{{Short description|American philanthropist and heiress (born 1939)}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Wallis Annenberg 1981.jpg
| caption = Annenberg in 1981
|birth_name = Wallis Huberta Annenberg
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1939|07|15}}
| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Philanthropist
President and Chairman of The Annenberg Foundation
| alma mater = Pine Manor College
| spouse = {{marriage|Seth Weingarten|1960|1975|end=divorced}}
| parents = Walter Annenberg
Veronica Dunkelman
| children = 4, including Lauren Bon
| relatives = Moses Annenberg (grandfather)
Janet Annenberg Hooker (aunt)
Enid Haupt (aunt)
Leonore Annenberg (stepmother)
| website =
| footnotes =
| awards =
}}
Wallis Huberta Annenberg (born July 15, 1939) is an American philanthropist and heiress. Annenberg serves as president and chairwoman of the Board of The Annenberg Foundation, a multibillion-dollar philanthropic organization in the United States.{{Cite web |date=September 14, 2012 |title=Graphic: MOCA Board: Meet the billionaires - Data Desk - Los Angeles Times |url=http://graphics.latimes.com/towergraphic-moca-board-meet-billionaires/ |publisher=Graphics.latimes.com |accessdate=October 16, 2013}}
Early life and education
Wallis Annenberg was born in 1939 in Philadelphia,{{Cite magazine |last=Colacello |first=Bob |title=Bob Colacello on Wallis Annenberg |issue=October |url=http://www.vanityfair.com/style/features/2009/10/wallis-annenberg200910 |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=September 14, 2009 |access-date=October 16, 2013}} into a Jewish family, the daughter of publishing magnate Walter Hubert Annenberg, and his first wife, Bernice Veronica Dunkelman, known as Ronny, a socialite from Toronto, Canada. Her grandfather Moses Annenberg (1877–1942), owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer,{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=October 2, 2002 |title=Walter Annenberg, 94, Dies; Philanthropist and Publisher |language=en-US |newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/02/arts/walter-annenberg-94-dies-philanthropist-and-publisher.html |access-date=January 14, 2020 |issn=0362-4331}} emigrated from Germany to Chicago in 1900. Her father owned a {{convert|15|acre|m2|adj=on}} estate called Inwood, where Wallis was raised.
When she was 10 years old, her parents divorced and her mother moved to Washington, D.C., to marry Ben Ourisman, a Chevrolet car dealer. Meanwhile, her father remarried in the year after the divorce to Leonore "Lee" Cohn, the niece of Columbia Pictures President Harry Cohn.{{Cite news |last=McFadden |first=Robert D. |date=March 12, 2009 |title=Leonore Annenberg, Philanthropist, Dies at 91 |language=en-US |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/13/business/13annenberg.html |access-date=January 14, 2020 |issn=0362-4331}}
Wallis Annenberg graduated in 1959 from Pine Manor College, when it was a junior college.{{Cite web |url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1899&dat=19860520&id=DY5GAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VvMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3551,2832754 |title=Communications center opened|newspaper=The Lewiston Journal|date=May 20, 1986|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130930003911/http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1899&dat=19860520&id=DY5GAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VvMMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3551,2832754 |archive-date=30 September 2013 |url-status=dead}}{{Cite web |url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19860519&id=IswlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TvwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1333,4771892 |title=Nancy Reagan|newspaper=Gettysburg Times |date=May 19, 1986 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130930003831/http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19860519&id=IswlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TvwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1333,4771892 |archive-date=30 September 2013 |url-status=dead}}
She had a brother, Roger, who committed suicide at a psychiatric institution in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, at the age of 22 in 1962, while on leave from Harvard University for treatment of schizophrenia.{{Cite web |title=Gazette: The Good Citizen (Mar/Apr 2003) |url=http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0303/giresi3.html |publisher=Upenn.edu |access-date=October 13, 2013}}{{Cite web |date=March 19, 1995 |title=In Billionaire's View, Smart Money Is On Education Walter Annenberg Has Donated Millions. Recent Recipients Include Phila. Public Schools. - Philly.com |url=http://articles.philly.com/1995-03-19/news/25702303_1_walter-h-annenberg-public-schools-education-reform |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020034538/http://articles.philly.com/1995-03-19/news/25702303_1_walter-h-annenberg-public-schools-education-reform |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 20, 2013 |publisher=Articles.philly.com |access-date=October 13, 2013}} She named one of her sons after her brother.{{Cite web |title=Pine Manor College Alumni: Wallis Annenberg, Hillary B. Smith, Pauline Tompkins, Leslie Hindman by Books LLC | 9781158300976 | Barnes & Noble |url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pine-manor-college-alumni-books-llc/1023340095?ean=9781158300976 |publisher=Barnesandnoble.com |access-date=October 13, 2013}}
Marriage and divorce
On a trip to Venice, in 1959, to celebrate completion of junior college, Annenberg met Seth Weingarten, who had just completed his undergraduate education at Princeton University and was looking forward to Yale Medical School. They quickly fell in love and, after only one year of studies at Columbia, Annenberg dropped out of school and married Weingarten at Inwood in 1960. They moved around the country, following her husband's career.
They had four children: Lauren, born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1961, Roger, who was named after Wallis's deceased brother, Gregory, born in New York City during Weingarten's residency at New York Hospital, and Charles, born in Roswell, New Mexico where Weingarten was serving as a medical officer at Walker Air Force Base. At her insistence, Weingarten accepted a position at UCLA, at the hospital now known as Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and they established a permanent home in California.{{Cite magazine |last=Colacello |first=Bob |title=Bob Colacello on Wallis Annenberg |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2009/10/wallis-annenberg200910 |access-date=January 14, 2020 |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=September 14, 2009 |issue=October |language=en}}
In 1975, she divorced Weingarten. In 1978, he won the custody of the children. In 1979, he offered Wallis full custody.
Career
When Wallis started to work for Triangle Publications, which included TV Guide and Seventeen magazine, as well as radio and TV stations nationwide, her father was its chairman of the board.{{Cite web |title=Most Influential Family Owned Businesses 2019: THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION {{!}} Los Angeles Business Journal |url=https://labusinessjournal.com/news/2019/oct/28/most-influential-family-owned-businesses-2019-anne/ |access-date=January 14, 2020 |website=labusinessjournal.com|date=October 28, 2019 }} She stayed for three years after its sale to Rupert Murdoch in 1988.
She appeared on The Joan Rivers Show on the new Fox television network in 1986, alongside actresses Lucille Ball and Michele Lee.
Philanthropy
After she died in March 2009, Leonore Annenberg left the leadership of the Annenberg Foundation to Wallis and three of her children: Lauren, Gregory and Charles.{{Cite web |title=Most Influential Family Owned Businesses 2019: THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION {{!}} Los Angeles Business Journal |url=https://labusinessjournal.com/news/2019/oct/28/most-influential-family-owned-businesses-2019-anne/ |access-date=January 14, 2020 |website=labusinessjournal.com|date=October 28, 2019 }} Wallis Annenberg today carries on her father's legacy as a public benefactor. As chairman and president of the Annenberg Foundation,{{Cite web |last=Abidi |first=Alina |date=April 19, 2017 |title=Wallis Annenberg announces donation |url=http://dailytrojan.com/2017/04/18/wallis-annenberg-announces-donation/ |access-date=January 14, 2020 |website=Daily Trojan |language=en-US}} she donates the family name and fortune to philanthropic and charitable projects, largely to the benefit of Los Angeles County.
She is on the board of trustees at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. She is a supporter of the Harlem Children's Zone, the Ojai Foundation's "Council project" for inner-city kids, and the Ocean Alliance. She serves on the board of trustees at the University of Southern California,{{Cite web |title=Trustees {{!}} Board of Trustees {{!}} USC |url=https://boardoftrustees.usc.edu/trustees/ |access-date=January 14, 2020 |website=boardoftrustees.usc.edu}} home of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. In 2014, the Wallis Annenberg Hall at USC was opened at part of the Annenberg School. In 2017, she was honored with the USC University Medallion for her philanthropy and leadership.
She is involved with the Wallis Annenberg Concourse at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, which held its opening gala in October 2013.{{Cite web |title=Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts | Beverly Hills California |url=http://www.thewallis.org/ |publisher=Thewallis.org |accessdate=October 13, 2013}}
She was inspired by and provided funding to build the Universally-Accessible Treehouse in Torrance, California.{{Cite web |title=Foundation News |url=http://www.annenbergfoundation.org/news/news_show.htm?doc_id=362990 |publisher=Annenberg Foundation |accessdate=October 16, 2013}} "It is thrilling to be able to make it possible for people of all ages and physical abilities to experience the world from a treehouse," said Wallis Annenberg. "There's a sense of vision, fun and pure escape that only such a structure can provide."
Annenberg serves on the board of directors for the New York-based chapter of the foundation of Princess Charlene of Monaco.{{Cite web |date=December 26, 2018 |title=The Foundation - Princess Charlene of Monaco foundation |url=http://www.pcmfusa.org/en/the-foundation |archive-url=https://archive.today/20181226111622/http://www.pcmfusa.org/en/the-foundation |archive-date=December 26, 2018}}
Her children Lauren Bon, Gregory Weingarten and Charles Weingarten serve on the board of directors of the Annenberg Foundation. Her son Roger Weingarten, a resident of Devereux{{Cite web |title=California Programs |url=http://www.devereux.org/site/PageServer?pagename=sb_programs |publisher=Devereux |accessdate=October 16, 2013}} in Santa Barbara, California, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 15, like his namesake,{{Cite book |last=Ogden |first=Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n0SujCRdh4gC&q=roger+annenberg+weingarten+schizophrenic&pg=PA475 |title=Legacy: A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg - Christopher Ogden - Google Books |date=November 11, 2009 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=9780316092449 |accessdate=October 13, 2013}}{{Cite web |title=Firm Foundation | Culture > Art & Design |url=http://www.wmagazine.com/culture/art-and-design/2008/11/wallis_annenberg/ |publisher=Wmagazine.com |accessdate=October 13, 2013}} is not on the board.{{Cite web |title=Independence Newsletter - Spring 2003 : Everyone Goes Home A Winner ! |url=http://www.devereux.org/site/DocServer/NewsletterDevereux2003.pdf?docID=421 |publisher=Devereux.org |accessdate=October 16, 2013}}{{Cite book |last=Ogden |first=Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n0SujCRdh4gC&q=roger+annenberg+weingarten+devereux&pg=PA475 |title=Legacy: A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg - Christopher Ogden - Google Books |date=November 11, 2009 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=9780316092449 |accessdate=October 13, 2013}}
Despite her father leaving the majority of his multibillion-dollar fortune to the Annenberg Foundation, it is estimated that Annenberg has a personal fortune in excess of five hundred million dollars.
Philanthropic projects include Wallis Annenberg PetSpace, Wallis Annenberg GenSpace, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Annenberg Space for Photography, Annenberg Community Beach House and the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing.
References
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Category:American billionaires
Category:21st-century American philanthropists
Category:Philanthropists from Philadelphia
Category:People from Beverly Hills, California
Category:Philanthropists from California
Category:Philanthropists from Pennsylvania