Petersen Automotive Museum Receives $100 Million Gift

Steven E. Young, Chairman of the Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation’s Board of Directors, announced that the Museum Foundation received a gift of approximately $100,000,000 from Margie Petersen and the Margie & Robert E. Petersen Foundation.

This donation is comprised of a substantial unrestricted financial gift, a matching challenge, the 300,000 square foot building that the Museum has occupied since it opened in 1994, and an important collection of cars assembled by the late Robert E. Petersen during his lifetime, all as part of the Museum’s gift.

This gift ensures that the Petersen Automotive Museum will continue to grow in importance as one of Los Angeles’ premier museums, and the largest and most acclaimed automobile museum in the nation.

“I am thrilled to make this gift which continues what Mr. Petersen and I began two decades ago, to build the most important automotive museum in the nation. My intent in doing this is to provide the Museum with the necessary resources to continue to enhance its collections, curatorial expertise and exhibitions so that generations to come will be able to forever know the history of the automobile and its role in the evolution of our nation’s transportation system,” said Margie Petersen.

“I am fulfilling a vision that Mr. Petersen and I shared and planned to do someday. I am so happy that this day has come and that I can launch the Museum into a new era of growth and expansion. While I expect the resources of the Museum to be available to the world, this gift is especially designed to the benefit of the Los Angeles community where we made our lives together,” stated Margie Petersen.

A program of special importance to Mrs. Petersen has been the Museum’s Free School Bus Program. Since 2005, the Museum has funded transportation that has enabled approximately 8,000 students per year from the Los Angeles Unified School District, grades K through 12, to visit the Museum. Teachers use the automobile to inspire student thinking about science, art, design, engineering, fuel supply, transportation and urban planning. Many teachers have stated that without this program the children would not have the opportunity to explore learning outside the classroom at all during the school year.

“The Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation Board is honored to acknowledge this gift as it launches a campaign to enlarge the Board and expand the reach of the Museum. We are committed to make the Petersen Automotive Museum the most important automobile venue in the world,” said Board Chairman Steven Young.

“We are ecstatic to receive this extraordinary gift from Mrs. Petersen. The generosity that she and Mr. Petersen have shown has been legendary and the entire Museum staff is overjoyed by this gift,” remarked Buddy Pepp, Executive Director of the Museum.

More than 150,000 visitors a year tour the Petersen Automotive Museum which is located on Museum Row on Los Angeles’s Miracle Mile. In addition to the automobile and motorcycle collections of Margie and Robert E. Petersen and the Petersen Foundation collection, the Museum also displays important cars from many other car collectors who donate or loan their vehicles to the Museum.

Robert E. Petersen founded Hollywood Publicity Associates in 1947. His love of cars let him win a contract to publicize a hot rod show at the Los Angeles Armory. He quickly recognized the market for a publication about hot rods which he parlayed into the legendary Hot Rod Magazine launched in 1948.

He grew his business into a publishing empire with more than 36 monthly magazines and over 50 annual publications and became a household name among car enthusiasts.

In 1963 he married Margie McNally, a model and actress from New York. Together they built a life of business, collections and philanthropy as one of Los Angles’ most prominent couples.

The Petersen car collection is renowned as one of the largest and most diverse collections in the United States. The Petersens are also known for important collections of wildlife and western art.

The couple’s considerable philanthropic activities in Los Angeles include The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, The Margie and Robert E. Petersen Boys and Girls Club of Hollywood, The Music Center, The Thalians, Cedars-Sinai Hospital, St. John’s Health Center and the John Wayne Cancer Institute among many others.

For more information, visit www.petersen.org.

[Source: Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation]