This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Ann and Bob Stewart loved the Utah Museum of Fine Arts — and the museum is feeling that love with the creation of a major endowment fund kickstarted with a $500,000 gift.
The Ann K. and J. Robert Stewart Endowed Fund in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, announced Thursday, will support staffing, programs and operations for UMFA's education and engagement department. The department now brings hands-on arts education to more than 15,000 teachers, students and communities across Utah.
UMFA executive director Gretchen Dietrich, in a statement, said, "Bob and Ann Stewart were lovely people who understood the value of arts and arts education in our community and helped strengthen many important cultural institutions."
Ann Stewart, a Provo native and University of Utah graduate, worked for UMFA for 20 years as a volunteer and employee. In 1979, she became one of the museum's first docents, and in the 1980s she was hired as associate curator of education. She was instrumental in creating and shepherding education programs for elementary school students and senior citizens. Many of those programs still thrive today.
Ann Stewart died in April 2006. Her family, fellow docents and staff and UMFA created the Ann K. Stewart Conservation Fund in her honor. The fund, to which docents continue to contribute, has supported the care of more than 50 works in the museum's permanent collection.
Bob Stewart, a radiation oncologist and a leading cancer researcher at the U., died in July 2014. The family requested gifts be made to UMFA in the couple's memory.