Paul Mellon

Paul Mellon had a deep and abiding interest in higher education, the humanities, and the arts. In 1941, he formed the Old Dominion Foundation, which focused primarily on higher education, especially the humanities and liberal arts. The Foundation also supported research and publication in the fine arts, training for museum curators, art conservation, and conservation projects in his adopted Virginia. Like Avalon, Old Dominion funded an array of progressive causes, including the United Negro College Fund, Hampton Institute, and museums of African and African American art. Old Dominion made $98 million in grants over its lifetime, and Paul Mellon made significant personal donations to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and a founding gift of cash and art to the Yale Center for British Art.

Born in 1907 in Pittsburgh, Paul was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and St. John’s College in Annapolis. He served as a trustee of the Mellon Foundation for sixteen years, helping shape the enduring character of the Foundation and our focus on higher education, the humanities, and the arts. He believed that philanthropists could strengthen the effect of their gifts by identifying important trends and opportunities where they might make distinctive contributions, trusting the knowledge and expertise of their grantee partners.