In Thursday’s (2/4) San Francisco Chronicle, Michael Cabanatuan writes, “Evelyn Haas, philanthropist, patron of the arts, matriarch of one of the Bay Area’s most prominent families and expert fly-fisherwoman, died Wednesday in San Francisco at age 92. Mrs. Haas, widow of Walter A. Haas Jr., led the family foundation, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, which has contributed more than $364 million to hundreds of community and cultural organizations that make the Bay Area what it is. They include the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the restoration of Crissy Field and The Chronicle’s Season of Sharing Fund. … San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas said Mrs. Haas, who served on the Symphony board for 40 years, loved classical music and wanted others to learn to love it, too. She helped to do that by funding ‘Keeping Score: MTT on Music,’ a classical music program for children on public radio, television and the Internet. ‘You got the impression from Evie that she had a real passion and interest in the Symphony, that it was a delight for her and that she wanted to share it with other people,’ Thomas said.”
Posted February 5, 2010
