Wallis Annenberg, the noted cultural and wildlife philanthropist, died at her home in Los Angeles on Monday, July 28, aged 86. The cause of her death is attributed to complications from lung cancer. While leading the namesake Annenberg Foundation for 16 years, Wallis oversaw the distribution of more than $3 billion in grants, endowing projects that spanned the worlds of academia, civics, science, medicine, conservation, arts, and culture.
She was born in Philadelphia on July 15, 1939, to Walter and Bernice Annenberg, a family whose wealth came from publishing. Her grandfather owned The Philadelphia Inquirer, and her father went on to build a publishing empire that included TV Guide. After selling his company, Triangle Publications, Walter Annenberg established his charitable Annenberg Foundation, one of the nation’s largest. Though the foundation supports causes worldwide, as chairwoman Wallis Annenberg allocated much of its resources to Los Angeles.
After endowing the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s directorship with $10 million in 2002, Wallis Annenberg gave the institution an additional $23 million in 2008 to acquire a collection of 19th and 20th-century photographs. In 2017, the foundation funded PetSpace, an animal adoption shelter, hospital, and humane education center in LA’s Playa Vista neighborhood. In 2022, the foundation donated $3 million to create GenSpace, a facility for older adults.
It was Annenberg’s donation of $75 million that transformed the former Beverly Hills Post Office into a vibrant arts complex, now known as the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Colloquially referred to as The Wallis, the performing arts center opened in 2013 and has produced and presented nearly 500 performances across multiple genres. Since opening, The Wallis has garnered nominations for 79 Ovation Awards, nine LA Drama Critics Circle Awards, and six architectural awards.
In April of 2025, Annenberg was honored at The Wallis during a benefit evening that netted more than $1.3 million for victims of the LA wildfires in January 2025. Robert van Leer, executive director and CEO of The Wallis since 2023, said that he enjoyed meeting the philanthropist in various contexts over the last few years.
“She would come to performances, she was on the board, and she was always somebody who cared, who was interested and engaged personally. There was a curiosity on her part,” van Leer said. “I’m not sure [the public knows] what a well-rounded person she was. She defined how she came to this vast wealth and crafted her own narrative — how she wanted to lead the Foundation, how she wanted to make a difference in peoples’ lives. She was very approachable, warm, and engaging, and had a great interest in what was happening on many, many levels of society.
In 2024, the White House awarded Wallis Annenberg the National Humanities Medal for helping to transform and bolster the arts and humanities in public life. She is survived by her daughter, Lauren Bon; her sons, Roger, Charles, and Gregory Weingarten; and five grandchildren.
