| 1 | Name: | Mr. Robert L. McNeil | |
| Institution: | The Barra Foundation; McNeil Laboratories, Inc. | ||
| Year Elected: | 2004 | ||
| Class: | 5. The Arts, Professions, and Leaders in Public & Private Affairs | ||
| Subdivision: | 503. Administrators, Bankers and Opinion Leaders from the Public or Private Sectors | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1915 | ||
| Death Date: | May 20, 2010 | ||
Robert L. McNeil, Jr. is a philanthropist who has devoted more than forty years to strengthening the artistic and intellectual environment of the Philadelphia area. Born in Connecticut in 1915, he holds a B.S. from Yale University (1936) and a B.Sc. from Philadelphia College of Pharmacy & Science (1938). From 1938-65 he worked at McNeil Laboratories as research chemist to director of research department to vice president (1938-56); director (1941-65); and chairman (1956-65). Since 1964, through the Barra Foundation, Mr. McNeil has done a great deal to support research and publication in early American history and culture. He has supported the publication of scores of difficult-to-fund art books and scholarly editions, has endowed professorships of American art history at Yale University and Wellesley College, and has endowed fellowships at the Winterthur Museum, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Library Company of Philadelphia, and the American Philosophical Society Library. He has also generously endowed the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, which was renamed in his honor. A noted collector of American art, silver and furniture of the period 1750-1825, he has made important gifts to such institutions as the National Gallery, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Winterthur Museum, and the National Constitution Center. Mr. McNeil has served as a director of corporations such as Johnson & Johnson, Arrow International, Inc., Island Gem Enterprises and Resco Products, Inc. He has also been vice president and trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; governor of the Yale University Art Gallery; director of the Archives of American Art, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the Valley Forge Historical Society; and a trustee of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy & Science, Princeton Theological Seminary and Germantown Academy. In sum, Robert McNeil is a remarkably active and effective supporter of art, education, and public service. | |||