The board and staff of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics mourn the passing of Agnes Gund, whose friendship and support shaped our institution for more than three decades. As a founding member of the Vera List Center Advisory Board, Aggie was instrumental in guiding the Center in its formative years, leaving an indelible mark on its mission and character.

Her unwavering commitment to artists, arts education, public access to the arts, and social justice was matched only by her generosity. The impact of her vision and advocacy endures—in the institutions she strengthened, the causes she championed, and the countless lives she touched.

At the Vera List Center’s very origins lies the decades-long friendship between Aggie and our founder, Vera G. List. Both dedicated collectors, they shared a passionate belief in the transformative power of art and in “people having access” to arts education, as “a right not a privilege,” in Aggie’s words. Aggie helped shape the Center’s earliest programs and initiatives: she engaged directly and memorably with artists such as Lorraine O’Grady and Ai Weiwei; played a central role in realizing permanent commissions by Michael Van Valkenburgh and Martin Puryear for what became the Vera List Courtyard at The New School; and supported the creation of our international biennial prize for art and politics, today known as the Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Social Justice. Hosting the prize launch in 2011, she reminded us:

“Artists are truly vital and I want to celebrate all of you. You’re the backbone of what we’re all about, and I just hope that we can convince even this Congress [in 2011] that without the arts we’re nowhere. We really have to have the arts as part of our lives.”

Both a visionary and a realist, Aggie’s aspirations were bold, and her strategies clear and precise. For art to be in people’s lives, it must be accessible. She supported The New School Art Collection (also founded by Vera List and Vera’s husband Albert), contributing works by James Casebere, Hans Haacke, David Hammons, and others that are installed across the campus. For arts education to have real impact, she believed it must be taught by artists themselves: “The purpose is not just having children exposed to good arts education, but to arts education that is taught by artists because artists teach better and do better.” And for art to be transformative, it must resonate with the urgent concerns of society.

Such art, Aggie recognized, is vulnerable and precarious. At the 2015 Fear of Art conference—organized by The New School’s Center for Public Scholarship and co-presented by the Vera List Center—she spoke of the “history of art as a history of fear, repression, and loss. It is noticeable how this subject stays with us, how we are aware of it historically and how it happens in our own time, from the Nazi purges to the toppling of Afghan Buddhas, from the banning of books to the silencing of artists and journalists. These stay in our own minds and memories.”

Her response to such threats was one of care, protection, and generosity—supporting organizations and initiatives that safeguard art as a unique and transformative force for the betterment of society.

At the Vera List Center, we remain deeply inspired by Aggie’s example, and we extend our heartfelt condolences to her family and friends.

Please visit the New York Times page for William Grimes’ obituary. Please visit the Vera List Center website for The Fear of Art conference.