The Oklahoma City Museum of Art mourns the loss of James C. Meade, a Lifetime Museum Trustee, Past Board Chair, and one of the outstanding art collectors of our community. The generosity of Mr. Meade and his wife, Virginia W. Meade, has been pivotal to building the Museum’s permanent collection, with their many gifts and establishment of their multiple collections endowments. Mr. Meade had a particular passion for American and British art, and his gifts to the collection have included significant portraits, landscapes, genre paintings and abstract works by such artists as John Singleton Copley, James Peale, Thomas Cole, William Hamilton, John Steuart Curry, Elizabeth Murray, and Suzanne McClelland.
Mr. Meade’s passion for collecting was matched by an encyclopedic knowledge of art history. This interest found an outlet in the James C. Meade Friends’ Lecture Series, which brought many leading scholars to the Noble Theater. Mr. Meade was an active participant in these lectures, as well as in the Museum’s Board and Committee meetings where his sharp wit and probing insights became legendary. He was a favorite of his fellow Trustees and the Museum’s staff alike, and his artistic legacy will live on in the collection objects, programs, and endowments that share the names of James C. and Virginia W. Meade.
We wish the entire Meade family all of our best as we fondly remember a giant in our institution’s seventy-five-year history.
In accordance with the family’s wishes, if you would like to make a memorial contribution, you can do so here or by calling (405) 278-8207.
