LEGACY OF LIGHT
Grateful Hub mourns beloved benefactor Theodore H. Cutler
He helped feed Boston’s hungry, heal our sick and bring art and beauty to children, and yesterday, a grateful city paid tribute to Theodore “Ted” H. Cutler, who died Thursday at age 86, leaving a rich legacy of philanthropy.
The Dorchester native and his late wife, Joan, believed the big question in life was not “how much money will we make,” but rather “how will we live our lives with meaning and purpose,” Emerson College President Lee Pelton said.
“And they did just that with charitable giving to organizations and agencies whose purposes were to create opportunity, ease burdens and hardships and provide a way forward for a better life,” Pelton said. “Where they saw wrong, they sought to right it, and where they saw a broken heart, they sought to mend.”
Cutler died at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, surrounded by his family.
But he is survived by thousands whose lives he touched through personal donations of millions of dollars — and fundraising that generated millions more — to organizations ranging from the Greater Boston Food Bank to Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of New England and Boston’s free Outside the Box performing arts festival that he founded in 2013.
In 2011, he received the Commonwealth Award, the state’s highest award for cultural philanthropy.
“His legacy will continue to live on through his many philanthropic contributions and his deep commitment to the people of the commonwealth,” Gov. Charlie Baker said. “His kindness, generosity and compassion will be sorely missed.”
“We will work to ensure his legacy continues to shine a light on the city of Boston,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh said.
Cutler, a 1951 graduate of Emerson, cofounded the former GWV International travel company that helped revolutionize charter travel and later merged with The Interface Group–Massachusetts, producer of Comdex, one of the largest computer trade shows at the time.
He became a wealthy man, but he was richer in compassion.
Cutler led a $35 million campaign to build the Greater Boston Food Bank’s 120,000-square-foot location that opened off the Expressway in 2009.
“He used his relationships and his ability to bring forward a need in such a way that we were introduced to donors and families and foundations that didn’t know anything about the food bank,” CEO Catherine D’Amato said.
“There are probably a thousand Teddy Cutler stories that can be shared — the things he touched or was a part of or guaranteed that those resources were there for families and children.”
Cutler’s Outside the Box festival draws 300,000 to 400,000 people to the Boston Common during its summer runs.
“He knew the performing arts could change someone’s life direction, and he did not want that to be precluded by someone’s economic ability to enjoy the arts,” executive director Susan Darian said.
“Outside the Box allows everybody to come,” Cutler said in a 2015 fundraising video. “It gives the children the opportunity to see what are the good things that go on in the world, what are the things that they should be part of, and that’s what I believe the performing arts do.”
Cutler’s dedication to Emerson College included a $2 million donation toward its renovation of the Majestic Theater, which reopened in 2003 as the Cutler Majestic Theatre. Its marquee paid tribute to Cutler yesterday.
Cutler even paid for the holiday lights on trees on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall. “It brought him tremendous joy to be the Jewish man who brought the light of Christmas to the city of Boston,” said Combined Jewish Philanthropies President Barry Shrage.
Services will be held at Temple Israel in Boston tomorrow at 12:45 p.m.
Cutler leaves sons Robert and Joel, and a daughter, Ellen Calmas, as well as several grandchildren. His wife, Joan (Berman), died in 2010.