EVELYN HAAS (1917–2010)

Evelyn Haas—philanthropist, patron of the arts, matriarch of one of the Bay Area’s most prominent families, and expert fly-fisherwoman—died Wednesday in San Francisco at age ninety-two, writes the San Francisco Chronicle.

Haas, widow of Walter A. Haas Jr., led the family foundation, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, which has contributed more than $364 million to hundreds of community and cultural organizations that make the Bay Area what it is. They include the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Symphony, the restoration of Crissy Field, and the Chronicle’s Season of Sharing Fund. The Haas family also owned the Oakland Athletics from 1980 to 1995.

Hass was a longtime leader on the board of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and she and her husband were instrumental in raising the $95 million to build the new museum in 1995.

“SF MoMA was the love of her life—except for her husband, Walter, and her children,” said Elaine McKeon, former president of the museum. “But she was just the sweetest person, interested in everyone she met. She was a real mentor to me.”