In Thursday’s (4/30) Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville), Charlie Patton writes, “The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra has been given a $250,000 grant by The Wallace Foundation, a philanthropic organization established in the name of DeWitt and Lila Acheson Wallace, who co-founded Reader’s Digest magazine in 1922. The gift to the symphony and a $750,000 grant to the Boys & Girls Club of America were made in memory of George Vincent Grune, a 83-year-old Ponte Vedra Beach resident who died April 17. … George Grune joined Reader’s Digest as an ad salesman in 1960 and was chief executive from 1984 until his retirement in 1995, then returned as acting CEO for about nine months in 1997-98. Beginning in 1984, he organized four small family foundations into what became The Wallace Foundation. … An avid supporter of the arts, Grune served on the boards of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Jacksonville Symphony and the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens. There is a Grune Family Gallery at Players by the Sea. David Pierson, president of the symphony, said he was caught by surprise by an email sent to him and others Sunday night announcing the gift.”
Posted April 30, 2013
