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User:Kt2011/Alice Walton

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Alice Walton
Walton in 2011
Born
Alice Louise Walton

(1949-10-07) October 7, 1949 (age 75)[1]
Newport, Arkansas, U.S.
EducationTrinity University[2]
Known forHeiress, Walton family fortune
Board member ofCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art[3]
Art Bridges Foundation[4]
Whole Health Institute[5]
Alice L. Walton School of Medicine[6]
Parents
Relatives

Alice Louise Walton (born October 7, 1949) is an American heiress to the fortune of Walmart. In September 2016, she owned over US$11 billion in Walmart shares.[7] As of October 2022, Walton has a net worth of $59 billion, making her the 19th-richest person, and the second richest woman in the world according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.[8]

Early life and education

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Walton was born in Newport, Arkansas.[1] She was raised along with her three brothers in Bentonville, Arkansas and graduated from Bentonville High School in 1966. She graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, with a B.A. in economics.[9]

Career

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Early in her career, Walton was an equity analyst and money manager for First Commerce Corporation[10] and headed investment activities at Arvest Bank Group.[11] She was also a broker for EF Hutton.[9] In 1988, Walton founded Llama Company, an investment bank, where she was president, chairwoman and CEO.[10][11]

Walton was the first person to chair the Northwest Arkansas Council and played a major role in the development of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, which opened in 1998.[12] At the time, the business and civic leaders of Northwest Arkansas Council found a need for the $109 million regional airport in their corner of the state.[13] Walton provided $15 million in initial funding for construction.[13] Her company, Llama Company, underwrote a $79.5 million bond.[13] The Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport Authority recognized Walton's contributions to the creation of the airport and named the terminal the Alice L. Walton Terminal Building.[14] She was inducted into the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame in 2001.[15] Llama Co. closed in the late 1990s.[9][16][17]

In his 1992 autobiography Made in America, Sam Walton remarked that Alice was "the most like me—a maverick—but even more volatile than I am."[12]

Art

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Walton and her mother would often paint watercolors on camping trips.[12] The first piece of art Walton purchased was a print of Picasso's Blue Nude when she was ten years old. In the late 1980s, she purchased a pair of display-quality Winslow Homer watercolors.[18] Her interest in art led to the Walton Family Foundation developing the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The architect Moshe Safdie designed the 200,000 square foot museum, which was built on 120 acres of Walton family land. The museum opened in 2011 and has been visited more than 5 million times as of 2021. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Walton said, "The motivation for Crystal Bridges was access for all and particularly for people who never had it".[19][20]

In December 2004, Walton purchased art sold from the collection of Daniel Fraad and Rita Fraad at Sotheby's, in New York.[12]

In 2005, Walton purchased Asher Brown Durand's celebrated painting, Kindred Spirits, in a sealed-bid auction for a purported US$35 million.[21] The 1849 painting, a tribute to Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole, had been given to the New York Public Library in 1904 by Julia Bryant, the daughter of Romantic poet and New York newspaper publisher William Cullen Bryant, who is depicted in the painting with Cole.[22] She has also purchased works by American painters Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper, as well as a notable portrait of George Washington by Charles Willson Peale,[23] in preparation for the opening of Crystal Bridges.[24] In 2009, Walton acquired Norman Rockwell's "Rosie the Riveter" for $4.9 million.[25]

Walton's attempt to quit smoking inspired her to purchase a painting reminiscent of an earlier painting by John Singer Sargent by Alfred Maurer which depicts a full-length woman smoking.[26] Another painting, by Tom Wesselmann, is titled "Smoker #9[27]" and depicts a hyper realistic, disembodied hand and mouth smoking a cigarette.[26]

In a 2011 interview, she spoke about acquiring great works by other artists. She described Marsden Hartley as "one of my favorite artists-he was a very complex guy, somewhat tormented, but a very spiritual person, and love the emotion and the feel and the spirituality of his work". She went on to say "and Andrew Wyeth-the mystery and loneliness that is expressed. How do you paint loneliness?"[12]

Other artists whose work Walton has purchased include: Georgia O'Keeffe, Mark Rothko, Edward Hopper, Kehinde Wiley, and Titus Kaphar.[20]

Philanthropy

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In 2016, Walton and other Walmart heirs donated $407 million in Walmart shares to a Family Trust which finances its philanthropy.[28]

Walton formed both the Art Bridges foundation and the Alice L. Walton Foundation in 2017.[29][19] The Alice L. Walton Foundation promotes arts, education, health, and improving economic opportunity.[29] In May 2020, the foundation gave a $1.28 million grant to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to expand its program to provide healthy food in schools.[30] Her foundation gave a $3.5 million grant to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank in October 2022: $3 million to support construction of a food distribution center, and $500,000 to buy and distribute food.[31] In 2020, the foundation gave the University of Central Arkansas $3 million in funding for its fine arts program.[32] The foundation gave $10 million to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in 2022 to support the museum's internship program to improve representation in arts leadership.[33]

Art Bridges partners with small and regional museums with less access to cultural resources. The foundation provides funding, collection loans and traveling exhibits, and creates art programs with museums. Walton has said her goal is to reduce the amount of art kept in storage. As of September 2021, the foundation had approximately 30 exhibits traveling throughout the United States.[19] The foundation also has a fellowship program for people from historically underrepresented groups to work with its museum partners. Additionally, Walton has partnered with the Ford Foundation through Art Bridges to fund programs to improve diversity in museum leadership.[29]

Healthcare

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In 2021, the Alice L. Walton Foundation partnered with the Cleveland Clinic to evaluate health care in Northwest Arkansas. Following that evaluation, in 2022, the foundation and Washington Regional Medical System announced plans to create a nonprofit medical system aimed at training doctors in specialty care fields such as oncology, cardiology, and neurology.[34]

In 2019, Walton established the Whole Health Institute. The institute works with health systems, employers and communities to build and expand access to holistic healthcare.[29] In March 2021, Walton announced that the institute would build a nonprofit medical school in Bentonville called the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine. The school will focus on allopathic medicine and graduates will receive a doctor of medicine degree.[35] The campus will be located near Crystal Bridges. Construction is expected to begin in 2023, with the first class enrolling in 2025.[36]

Political contributions

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Alice Walton was the 20th-largest individual contributor to 527 committees in the U.S. presidential election 2004, donating US$2.6 million to the conservative Progress for America group.[37] As of January 2012, Walton had contributed $200,000 to Restore Our Future, the super PAC associated with Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.[38] Alice donated $353,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee supporting Clinton and other Democrats, in 2016.[39]

Personal life

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Walton married a prominent Louisiana investment banker in 1974 at age 24, but they were divorced 21⁄2 years later. According to Forbes, she married "the contractor who built her swimming pool" soon after, "but they, too, divorced quickly".[9][12][40]

In 1998, Walton moved to a ranch in Millsap, Texas, named Walton's Rocking W Ranch.[9][16] An avid horse-lover, she was known for having an eye for determining which 2-month-olds would grow to be champion cutters.[41] Walton listed the farm for sale in 2015 and moved to Fort Worth, Texas, citing the need to focus on the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.[42][43][44] She moved back to Bentonville in 2020.[45]

Walton has been involved in multiple automobile accidents, one of them fatal. She lost control of a rented Jeep during a 1983 Thanksgiving family reunion near Acapulco and plunged into a ravine, shattering her leg. She was airlifted out of Mexico and underwent more than two dozen surgeries; she suffers lingering pain from her injuries.[9] In April 1989, she struck and killed 50-year-old Oleta Hardin, who had stepped onto a road in Fayetteville, Arkansas.[9] In 1998, she hit a gas meter while driving under the influence of alcohol. She paid a $925 fine.[9][46]

Recognition

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References

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  1. ^ a b Tedlow, Richard S. (July 23, 2001). "Sam Walton: Great From the Start". Harvard Business School.
  2. ^ "Forbes profile: Alice Walton". Forbes.com. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  3. ^ Battaglia, Andy (November 16, 2021). "In Shift at Crystal Bridges, Olivia Walton Assumes Leadership Role as Alice Walton Transitions to New Position". ARTnews. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  4. ^ "Meet our Board". Art Bridges Foundation. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  5. ^ "About the Whole Health Institute". Whole Health Institute. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  6. ^ "Leadership". Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  7. ^ "Alice L Walton Insider Trading Overview". www.insidermole.com. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  8. ^ "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Alice Walton". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h O'Connor, Clair (October 7, 2013). "Inside the World of Walmart Billionaire Alice Walton, America's Richest Art Collector". Forbes.
  10. ^ a b Hosticka, Alexis (24 August 2015). "Arkansas Women's Hall of Fame: Alice walton". Arkansas Business. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  11. ^ a b Gill, Todd (16 February 2012). "Alice Walton to receive honorary degree from the University of Arkansas". Fayetteville Flyer. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Mead, Rebecca (June 27, 2011). "Alice's Wonderland: A Walmart Heiress Builds a Museum in the Ozarks". The New Yorker.
  13. ^ a b c "Group to consider naming airport terminal, after Wal-Mart heiress". The Associated Press. 8 August 1999. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  14. ^ "Airport board names terminal after Alice Walton". The Associated Press. 13 August 1999. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  15. ^ Cottingham, Jan (29 March 2010). "Alice Walton: Working to bring the world to Arkansas' door". Arkansas Business. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
  16. ^ a b Paul, Steve (10 December 2006). "Alice Walton's big picture: The Wal-Mart heir turns her eye, and her money, to art collecting". The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  17. ^ "Wal-Mart heiress loves cutting horses". Associated Press. 19 December 1999. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  18. ^ Malle, Chloe (October 26, 2021). "How Alice Walton is Bringing the Art World to Bentonville, Arkansas". Town & Country Magazine. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  19. ^ a b c Garcia-Furtado, Laia (October 8, 2021). "Alice Walton Envisions the Future of American Art". W Magazine. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  20. ^ a b Blasberg, Derek (September 11, 2021). "How Alice Walton Is Doubling Down on Her Mega-Museum in Arkansas". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  21. ^ Vogel, Carol (2005-05-13). "New York Public Library's Durand Painting Sold to Wal-Mart Heiress". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  22. ^ "Asher B. Durand's 'Kindred Spirits'". Exhibitions. National Gallery of Art. Archived from the original on 2007-01-28. Retrieved 2007-01-29.
  23. ^ Solnit, Rebecca (March 6, 2006). "Alice Walton's Fig Leaf". The Nation.
  24. ^ Crystal Bridges website Archived October 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ Vogel, Carol (2011-06-16). "Alice Walton on Her Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  26. ^ a b Mead, Rebecca (2011-06-20). "Alice's Wonderland". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  27. ^ "Smoker #9". collection.crystalbridges.org. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  28. ^ "America's Richest Family Gave Away $407 Million in Walmart Shares". Forbes. 2016-01-04. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  29. ^ a b c d Scutari, Mike (July 26, 2022). ""Ingredients in Living a Fulfilling Life." How Alice Walton's Philanthropy Is Evolving and Expanding". Inside Philanthropy. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  30. ^ "Alice Walton Foundation pledges $1.28 million to UAMS for NWA school nutrition programs". Talk Business & Politics. May 27, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  31. ^ Seymore, Sade (October 12, 2022). "Northwest Arkansas Food Bank receives $3.5 million grant from Alice L. Walton Foundation". KFSM-TV. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  32. ^ "UCA announces $3 million gift from Alice L. Walton Foundation at Windgate Center groundbreaking". Talk Business & Politics. October 9, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  33. ^ Gill, Todd (May 26, 2022). "Alice Walton Foundation gives $10 million to Crystal Bridges to expand internship program". Feyetteville Flyer. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  34. ^ Golden, Alex (April 26, 2022). "New nonprofit medical system in the works for NWA". Axios. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  35. ^ "Alice Walton plans to build medical school in Bentonville". KTLO. March 4, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  36. ^ Gatling, Paul (June 30, 2022). "Bentonville medical school site revealed; new name is Alice L. Walton School of Medicine". Talk Business & Politics. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  37. ^ Overfelt, David (2006). Building Wal-Mart with resistance: community political action against a new Wal-Mart supercenter (Thesis thesis). University of Missouri--Columbia.
  38. ^ "Have the Waltons chosen their nominee? Sure looks like it!". The Walmart 1%. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  39. ^ "Walmart's Walton family backing Clinton". Washington Examiner. 2016-09-07. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  40. ^ "Alice Walton Profile". Forbes. March 1, 2014. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
  41. ^ Paul, Steven (November 19, 2006). "Alice L. Walton, Making a Grand Dream a Reality: The Jet-Setter Is Parlaying Her Wealth into a Hometown Museum". The Kansas City Star.
  42. ^ Baker, Max B. (1 July 2016). "Alice Walton cuts prices on two ranch properties". Star-Telegram. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  43. ^ Sherman, Erik (17 September 2015). "Wal-Mart heiress selling these 'iconic' ranches for $48 million". Fortune. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  44. ^ "Wal-Mart heiress brings art museum to the Ozarks". NPR. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  45. ^ Malle, Chloe (October 26, 2021). "How Alice Walton is Bringing the Art World to Bentonville, Arkansas". Town & Country Magazine. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  46. ^ "The Woman Who Put the Art in Wal-Mart". The Independent. London. November 8, 2007. Archived from the original on 2010-12-08. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  47. ^ Schnell, Lindsay (August 13, 2020). "Walmart heiress Alice Walton, Hillary Rodham Clinton among Arkansas most influential Women of the Century". USA Today. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  48. ^ Dangremond, Sam (February 1, 2016). "Alice Walton Is the Richest Woman in the World". Town & Country Magazine. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  49. ^ Wooldridge, Jane (October 26, 2018). "These global leaders in government and business are meeting in Miami. All are women". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  50. ^ "Alice Walton, Martin Puryear, and Kwame Anthony Appiah Receive Getty Medals". Art Fourm. February 27, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
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