Daniel J. Terra

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US President Ronald Reagan welcomes Daniel J. Terra to the White House, photo from 1988

Daniel James Terra (born June 8, 1911 in Philadelphia ; died June 28, 1996 in Washington, DC ) was an American chemist , entrepreneur , art collector, and patron .

Life

Daniel J. Terra was born in Philadelphia in 1911 to Italian immigrants. His father Louis J. Terra ran a printing press as a lithographer , his mother Mary DeLuca was a dancer before marriage; she visited museums with Daniel J. Terra, aroused his interest in the theater and gave him dance lessons.

After finishing school, Terra studied chemistry and chemical engineering at Pennsylvania State University . He completed his studies in 1931 with a bachelor's degree . During the Great Depression at the beginning of the 1930s, he did not find a permanent job and instead took odd jobs on the radio and appeared in pubs as a singer and dancer.

Terra later moved to Chicago and developed a quick-drying printing ink there. This invention made it possible to work with shorter throughput times in rotary printing , which resulted in considerable cost reductions. With a loan of US $ 2,500, he and his partner John H. Lawson founded Lawter Chemicals in 1940 , the name of which is derived from the first syllables of the founders. The company produces inks and chemical additives for the printing industry. Terra earned a fortune with the company, remained managing director until January 1996 and on the company's board of directors until his death. Lawter has been part of the Japanese Harima Chemicals group since 2011 .

Since 1937 Terra was married to Adeline Evans Richards. From this marriage comes the son James D. Terra. Daniel J. Terra shared a passion for art with his wife. While his wife mainly collected works of English landscape painting from the 18th and 19th centuries, Daniel J. Terras was interested in American painting of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1978 he founded the Terra Foundation for American Art , which was supposed to promote American art and to which he later brought his art collection. This included works by artists such as Winslow Homer and Mary Cassatt . In 1980 the Terra Museum of American Art in Evanston, north of Chicago, was opened, where he presented the collection to the public.

During the 1980 presidential election in the United States , Terra Finance was chairman of Ronald Reagan's campaign team . In this role, he raised $ 21 million in donations for the future president's campaign. Reagan named his friend Terra after the election to the United States ambassador-at-large for cultural affairs ( US special envoy for cultural affairs ). He was the first and so far only special envoy of its kind in the United States.

In 1982, Terra's wife Adeline died. He married Judith Banks for the second time in 1986. He continuously expanded his art collection. In 1982 he bought one of the main works in his collection The Gallery of the Louvre from Samuel FB Morse for 3.25 million US dollars. In 1987 the Terra Museum moved to Chicago. In addition, the Musée d'Art Américain opened in 1992 as a branch in Giverny , France , with which the work of the American painters' colony there should be honored. He himself had a residence there, his other domiciles were in Washington, DC and Chicago. Daniel J. Terra died in Washington, DC in 1996 as a result of a heart attack. While the two museums founded by Terra were closed after his death, the Terra Foundation continues to this day.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eric Pace: Daniel J. Terra, 85, Founder of Art Museum in Giverny, dies , article in the New York Times, July 1, 1996
  2. ↑ Martin Weil: Cultural Ambassador Daniel Terra dies , article in the Washington Post, July 1, 1996
  3. ↑ Martin Weil: Cultural Ambassador Daniel Terra dies , article in the Washington Post, July 1, 1996
  4. ^ Information on the Lawter Chemicals company on the Harima chemical company website
  5. ↑ Martin Weil: Cultural Ambassador Daniel Terra dies , article in the Washington Post, July 1, 1996
  6. ↑ Eric Pace: Daniel J. Terra, 85, Founder of Art Museum in Giverny, dies , article in the New York Times, July 1, 1996
  7. ↑ Eric Pace: Daniel J. Terra, 85, Founder of Art Museum in Giverny, dies , article in the New York Times, July 1, 1996


personal data
SURNAME Terra, Daniel J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Terra, Daniel James (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American chemist, entrepreneur, art collector and patron
DATE OF BIRTH June 8, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia
DATE OF DEATH June 28, 1996
Place of death Washington, DC