Richard and Mary L. Gray

A mutual love of the arts drew Richard and Mary Gray together when they met almost 60 years ago and has been a driving passion in their lives ever since.

"The search for knowledge about and experience with the arts are critical to the development of humanistic values," says Richard Gray, a lifelong Chicagoan, internationally distinguished art dealer, noted private collector, and architectural landmark preservationist. The Richard Gray Gallery of Chicago and New York specializes in painting, sculpture, and drawings by 20th-century American and European artists. Mary Gray, AM’78, is a published author who has written two books on Chicago’s public sculpture and murals.

"No one represents the arts better in this city than Richard and Mary Gray," says Larry Norman, Deputy Provost for the Arts.

We at the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry are deeply saddened to share the news that our founding benefactor, Richard Gray, passed away on May 16, 2018.  He was a visionary and influential supporter of the arts—renowned as a collector, gallerist, and architectural landmark preservationist—at the University of Chicago, across the city, and nationwide.

In Memoriam dedicated to Richard Gray can be found here.