For and About Members & Donors

Mrs. Leach Met the Challenge. Won’t you?

Mrs. William (Gladys) Leach of Scott Township is a former donor to Carnegie Museums who recently renewed her support when she heard about the challenge grant. She explains, "With the loss of my husband in 1995, I was very preoccupied with the affairs of his estate and, unfortunately, I let my support lapse. The challenge grant motivated me to contribute again." 

The Leaches lived in Arizona; however, they spent summers in Pittsburgh, the location of Mr. Leach’s family business, G&W Leach. Says Mrs. Leach, "Visiting the Carnegie Museums was a highlight of every summer for our children."

Mrs. Leach says those family visits to Carnegie Museums were important to her children’s artistic and intellectual development. Her son Mark Kilmer has a Ph.D. in psychology, and her son Val Kilmer is a noted actor. 

Mrs. Leach plans to continue to support the museums in memory of her youngest son, the late Wesley Kilmer, who died at age 16. "I get very emotional when I think about Wesley and our museum outings," she says. "Because I lost him when he was so young, my memories are very strong of him as a young boy at the museums—looking at the dinosaurs and reading the plaques. It’s very meaningful to me to support the Carnegie Museums."

She also continues to support Carnegie Museums because her husband, a Pittsburgh native, was proud of the museums and their cultural contributions to Pittsburgh. 

Mrs. Leach urges other parents to take their children to the museums as often as they can. "Museums are such educational and lasting experiences for children. Children learn something new every time they visit." 
 

Travel with Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

For more information about traveling with Carnegie Museums, please call 622-5574 or e-mail travel@carnegiemuseums.org. 

Hotel Bellagio, which trip host Tom Sokolowski describes as "the most splendiferous place to stay on the Vegas strip," combines Old World charm and New World glamour.

Henri Matisse’s Pineapple and Anemones (1940) is among Bellagio’s $300 million collection of modern masterpieces.

Spend four days in Las Vegas, a place that Tom Sokolowski, director of The Andy Warhol Museum and host of the trip, describes as the ultimate theme city. "Las Vegas is a totally ‘captured,’ artificial vacation," says Sokolowski. "Why go abroad, when Las Vegas has recreated the landmarks of the great cities of the world?" 

Sokolowski approaches this foray into a very American fantasyland from the point of view of a true Warholian. "At The Andy Warhol Museum, we are interested in the ways in which high culture intersects with pop culture. Las Vegas stands at this very intersection." 

You’ll stay at Bellagio, which, at $1.6 billion, was the world’s costliest hotel to build. You’ll receive a guided tour of Bellagio’s Gallery of Fine Art, which boasts a $300 million collection of 19^th and 20^th century masterpieces. You’ll also tour the hotel’s botanical gardens, modeled after those of its namesake, the village of Bellagio in Italy, and see a spectacular new show by Cirque du Soleil. 

During dinner with a local art historian, you’ll learn more about the three stages of Las Vegas’ architectural history: its early days as a desert resort town; its post-war period as America’s "sin city"; and its current incarnation as a family-oriented vacation spot.

Side trips are scheduled to Hoover Dam and the Liberace Museum.
 

Join host Peter Lauritzen on a Venice adventure. You’ll stay at the luxurious, internationally celebrated Hotel Cipriani and enjoy day trips to privately owned Palladian villas. Villa owners will host lunch as well as tours of their private art collections. 
 

*This trip is exclusive to donors who contribute $300 or more to Carnegie Museums. 

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