Henry van Ameringen, Friend of L.G.B.T.Q. Causes, Dies at 89

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/24/nyregion/henry-van-ameringen-philanthropist-dead.html

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Henry van Ameringen, a low-key philanthropist who was an early and major donor to L.G.B.T.Q. and AIDS causes, died on Sept. 9 at his home in Manhattan. He was 89.

Chris Cormier Maggiano, a friend and adviser, confirmed his death.

Mr. van Ameringen (pronounced am-ehr-ING-en), whose father made a fortune in the fragrances business, gave away some $200 million, Mr. Maggiano estimated, and was among the first openly gay major donors to fund L.G.B.T.Q. and AIDS-related organizations, both large and small, at a time before they enjoyed more mainstream support.

The van Ameringen family had a long history of giving, especially in the arts and mental health, and as a board member of the family foundation Mr. van Ameringen furthered that, but he also established his own foundations that departed from the family’s core interests.

“They were all very generous, but Henry went out on limbs that a lot of generous people would not go out on,” Kevin Jennings, the chief executive of Lambda Legal, which fights for the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people, said in a phone interview. “The more stigmatized and marginalized people were, the more Henry wanted to help. It was like an equation: Stigmatized plus marginalized equals large gift from Henry.”

But Mr. van Ameringen wasn’t just a check writer, especially early in his philanthropic career. At God’s Love We Deliver, an organization founded in 1986 to bring meals to people living with AIDS in Manhattan, it was not uncommon to see him in an apron in the kitchen, or delivering meals.

“I admired how he quietly rolled up his sleeves to get in and volunteer in our beginning years — without pretense, just full of love,” Karen Pearl, that organization’s president, said by email.

God’s Love We Deliver now provides more than 2.2 million meals a year to people with a variety of serious illnesses, something that Mr. van Ameringen’s support had helped bring about, Ms. Pearl said.

“His generosity seemingly knew no bounds,” she said, “and I know we at God’s Love — and so many other organizations — are stronger, and made possible, by all that Henry had to give.”

Henry Pfaltz van Ameringen was born on Oct. 19, 1930, in South Orange, N.J. His father, Arnold Louis van Ameringen, was a founder of International Flavors and Fragrances, a multibillion-dollar international business; at his death in 1966, obituaries noted his longstanding support for mental health causes. His mother, Hedwig (Pfaltz) van Ameringen, who died in 1996, was known in particular for supporting the New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

In a rare interview, with the New York City television channel NY1 in 2010, Mr. van Ameringen spoke of his coming of age in repressive times. “I knew very early that I was gay, so it was very uncomfortable growing up,” he said. “I don’t really have very happy memories.”

After graduating from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, he lived in Paris for several decades. He went into the family business and retired as European vice president for fragrance marketing.

In addition to participating in his family’s foundation, Mr. van Ameringen formed his own in 1967, the H. van Ameringen Foundation. When AIDS began to devastate the gay community, he donated to organizations that responded to the crisis.

“I’ve never been very political,” he wrote in The Huffington Post in 2012. “But in the 1980s the AIDS epidemic began, and staying on the sidelines was simply not an option. The government was doing absolutely nothing to halt the spread of this disease nor help those who were suffering.”

Mr. Jennings recalled Mr. van Ameringen as a man who didn’t write checks casually; he would probe and question and tell you what he thought, sometimes bluntly. Mr. Jennings found that out in the early 1990s, when he had lunch with Mr. van Ameringen to seek support for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (now known as GLSEN), an organization he and others had started to support L.G.B.T.Q. youth.

“He turned to me and he said, ‘Just so you know, I think your organization is a terrible idea and will give ammunition to our opponents,’” Mr. Jennings recalled. (Right-wing groups at the time had stoked unfounded fears that homosexual men recruited children.) “‘You have one hour to change my mind.’”

By the end of the lunch, Mr. Jennings had done just that; Mr. van Ameringen became a supporter and ended their chat by telling him, “If you’re still alive in a year, call me again.”

Mr. van Ameringen continued his father’s support for mental health causes, including serving on the board of Fountain House, which supports people with mental illness, for five decades.

“Henry van Ameringen devoted much of his philanthropy to supporting the power and potential of people who are unseen, underrepresented and stigmatized,” Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the chief executive and president of Fountain House, said in an email. “That included people living with mental illness — especially Black people and other people of color who bear an undue burden from it.”

Mr. van Ameringen also gave generously to “In the Life,” an L.G.B.T. newsmagazine show on PBS; marijuana legalization efforts; and political candidates. He and his spouse, T. Eric Galloway, whom he married in 2014 after beginning their relationship in the 1990s, formed the Galvan Foundation, which addresses affordable housing and other social issues in Hudson, N.Y.

In addition to Mr. Galloway, Mr. van Ameringen is survived by six nieces and nephews. His sister Lily Auchincloss died in 1996, and his sister Patricia van Ameringen Kind died in 2016. Both sisters were philanthropists.

Despite his wealth, Mr. van Ameringen was approachable and put people who sought his financial help at ease.

“There’s a dynamic that happens with people as wealthy as Henry, where you don’t feel like you’re regarded as an equal; you’re treated like a supplicant,” Mr. Jennings said. “You never felt that way with Henry. You always felt completely respected.”