Wallis Annenberg, the prominent Los Angeles philanthropist who backed institutions including the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, died Monday in Los Angeles. She was 86.
The cause was complications related to lung cancer, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Her name also appears on institutions such as the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica, Wallis Annenberg GenSpace senior center in Koreatown and the Wallis Annenberg Building at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.
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She spearheaded the 2013 opening of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in the former Beverly Hills Post Office, which has hosted performers including Patti LuPone, Sarah Silverman and the Martha Graham Dance Company. Annenberg personally contributed more than $75 million to the center.
Robert van Leer, Executive Director & CEO of The Wallis, said, “It is with a profound sense of loss that we express our condolences on the passing of Wallis Annenberg. Wallis believed wholeheartedly in the capacity of the arts to unite people from all walks of life and believed that those connections could bring about meaningful change. In honoring her memory, we commit to continuing her work by championing diverse voices and nurturing the next generation of artists and audiences. Her vision will continue to inspire us as we carry forth her mission at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.”
Most recently, Annenberg shepherded the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Agoura Hills, which is set to open in 2026.
Wallis Annenberg was chair, president and chief executive of the Annenberg Foundation, founded by her father Walter Annenberg in 1989 after he sold TV Guide, Seventeen and other publications to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. The non-profit foundation has assets of about $1.2 billion, the L.A. Times reported.
Wallis Annenberg worked at TV Guide when her father owned the parent company, Triangle Publications, and started at the Annenberg Foundation after he died in 2012. The foundation has awarded approximately $1.5 billion to Los Angeles organizations since she joined.
A tireless advocate for the arts, she founded the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City, which was open from 2009 until 2020, and supported LACMA and MOCA.
She is survived by four children: Lauren Bon and Gregory, Roger and Charles Annenberg Weingarten, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
