CHICAGO _ The Museum of Science and Industry will rename itself after Chicago philanthropist Ken Griffin, who is making the largest donation in the institution's history, the museum announced Thursday.
The sprawling science, tech and business museum on the city's South Side will become the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry after the museum's board voted to accept Griffin's $125 million donation and the name change Thursday morning.
It's a major change in the Chicago cultural landscape, prompted by one of the largest cash donations ever to a local cultural institution. Ken Griffin, founder of the hedge fund Citadel, has been one of the most prominent and active donors to cultural and educational organizations through his Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund, with giving that now totals over $1 billion.
"We are honored to receive this incredibly generous gift, which helps ensure that MSI remains a vital resource for science learning in the 21st century," David Mosena, the museum's president and chief executive officer said in a statement. "This gift will allow us to continue providing the kind of innovative experiences and programs that work to achieve that mission for generations to come."
Mosena said the name change will become official as soon as possible but could take a year or more to complete the necessary paperwork.
The museum says the gift pushes its current capital campaign past the $300 million mark in funds raised. The money will mostly go into the museum's endowment, which will more than double as a result, MSI board chair Chris Crane said. In coming years, the museum intends to work on creating new exhibitions, renovating museum galleries and modernizing its building, which has 14 acres of indoor space and is the last holdover on the "White City" site of the 1893 World's Fair.
The Griffin donation will also put his name on a new exhibition in the works, "a state-of-the-art digital gallery and performance space that will be the only experience of its kind in North America," said the institution's news release. Mosena, in an interview, described it as a kind of immersive full-room video experience that does not require virtual reality goggles to take part in.
Located in the Hyde Park neighborhood at 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive, MSI was Chicago's second most popular museum in 2018, with 1.56 million visitors. The Art Institute of Chicago had 1.62 million.
"A gift of this magnitude will ensure MSI can continue to empower Chicago's youth with the foundation they need to be at the forefront of the next generation of STEM leaders," said Crane, the Exelon Corporation president and CEO, in a statement.
In 2015, husband-and-wife philanthropists Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson gave an estimated $400 million in contemporary and modern art to the Art Institute of Chicago on the condition that it be displayed there for the next 50 years. It is currently on view in the Modern Wing as the Edlis/Neeson Collection.
Philanthropist Ann Lurie gave $100 million _ about $121 million in 2018 dollars _ to Children's Memorial Hospital in 2007, and after a subsequent move from Lincoln Park to Streeterville, it was renamed the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital.
Among other Chicago cultural gifts, Griffin has donated substantial amounts to the Field Museum of Natural History and Art Institute of Chicago. He has helped major New York museums as well and gave $150 million to his alma mater Harvard University and $125 million to the University of Chicago in recent years.
Raised in Florida, Griffin, 50, has long called the Chicago area home. In 1990 he founded the hedge fund manager Citadel, which said it has $32 billion under management as of Sept. 1. The Citadel website says that Griffin, before the MSI gift, had given more than $900 million to educational and cultural causes.
MSI was founded in 1933 in the building that was the Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and subsequently served as the founding home of the Field Museum. Sears, Roebuck and Co. president Julius Rosenwald was the main financial backer at its founding but did not want his name in the museum title.
