Carol Vogel of The New York Times nabs the scoop that billionaire real-estate maven and art collector Sam Zell and his wife, Helen, will give $10 million to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, to create a Zell Fund for Artistic Excellence.
Half of that money will go to paying down a portion of the debt that the MCA occurred when it built its current Josef Paul Kleihues–designed home in 1996. The remainder will be used for a wide variety of initiatives at the museum, including events programming, exhibitions, education and improving the museum’s website.
In the mood for a bit more information about Mr. Zell? Here’s a Forbes story about how he was paid more than $5 million by an insurance company after a dealer sold three works from his collection, including a major Balthus, and failed to pay him the proceeds.
Update: An earlier version of this article misspelled the last name of Mr. and Mrs. Zell. It has been corrected.
