Couple leaves $18 million gift to 3 Cincinnati museums

Victoria Moorwood, Cincinnati Enquirer
·1 min read
Carolyn and Bill Eckerle made a planned $18 million donation to three Cincinnati museums before they died.
Carolyn and Bill Eckerle made a planned $18 million donation to three Cincinnati museums before they died.

A local couple left a multimillion-dollar gift to three Cincinnati museums.

Carolyn and William “Bill” Eckerle left $18 million to the Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Museum Center and the Taft Museum of Art to be split three ways, a press release from Cincinnati Museum Center said. Bequests of roughly $6 million will support endowments to each institution.

The couple made planned gifts to the three museums before they died. Carolyn died in 2020 and Bill died in 2022, according to the press release.

“Bill and Carol were lovely people and I’m grateful I had the chance to know them for many years through Cincinnati Museum Center, and that our community will get to know our city’s art and culture through them," Elizabeth Pierce, president and CEO of Cincinnati Museum Center, said in a release.

The couple's donation is within the top five largest gifts Cincinnati Museum Center has received at one time, Cody Hefner, vice president of marketing and communications for Cincinnati Museum Center, told The Enquirer.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Couple leaves $18 million to Cincinnati Museum Center, 2 other museums