Obituary: Patricia A. Corbett, Arts Philanthropist, Dies at 99

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Compiled by Noelle Barton, Caroline Bermudez, Maria Di Mento, Audrey Hill, and Anne W. Howard.

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January 30, 2008

Obituary: Patricia A. Corbett, Arts Philanthropist, Dies at 99

The death of Patricia A. Corbett, a prominent philanthropist in Cincinnati,
will leave a void in that city’s arts scene, reports The Cincinnati Enquirer. Mrs. Corbett died January 28 at her home in Hyde Park, Ohio. She was 99.

Mrs. Corbett and her husband, Ralph, also deceased, gave millions of dollars to the arts through the Corbett Foundation, established in 1995, and through her own personal gifts.

The couple made their fortune via their door-chime company, NuTone.

Many of their gifts were made to help area arts-education organizations thrive. In 2000, for example, Mrs. Corbett made a personal gift of more than $2-million to Northern Kentucky University.

In 1997, Mrs. Corbett and the Corbett Foundation also gave the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra a $5-million grant to provide classroom and concert experiences for area students.

“We know how much good it does to get children to listen to classical music,” Mrs. Corbett told The Enquirer years before her death. “You try to touch them in some way, and music transports us into another world.”

Comments

Reading the obituary and tributes to the late Patricia Corbett reinforced for me just how many lives she and her late husband, Ralph Corbett, touched. When I came to Cincinnati in 1994, Mrs. Corbett was still exercising a strong presence in the philanthropic culture of the region. If not for the Corbett Foundation, the College-Conservatory of Music, the Cincinnati Opera, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and other organizations would not have flourished and survived as they have. Among other things, Cincinnati is known for its incredibly vibrant arts culture. Preserving and nurturing that culture will be Mrs. Corbett’s legacy—long after the rest of us have disappeared. We shall not gaze upon her like again.

—Steve Suskin—
Former Director of External Relations at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

— steve suskin Jan 30, 01:41 PM #

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