Fragrance company heir gave to LGBTQ causes
Henry van Ameringen, a low- key philanthropist who was an early and major donor to LGBTQ 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, 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 LGBTQ 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,” said Kevin Jennings, chief executive of Lambda Legal, which fights for the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people. “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. 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.
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 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 long- standing 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 youth. the Georgetown University “He turned to me and he School of Foreign Service, said, ‘ Just so you know, I he lived in Paris for several think your organization is decades. He went into the a terrible idea and will give family business and retired ammunition to our opponents,’” as European vice president Mr. Jennings recalled. for fragrance marketing. ( Right- wing groups
In addition to participating at the time had stoked unfounded in his family’s foundation, fears that homosexual Mr. van Ameringen men recruited children.) formed his own in 1967, the “‘ You have one hour H. van Ameringen Foundation. to change my mind.’” When AIDS began to By the end of the lunch, devastate the gay community, Mr. Jennings had done just he donated to organizations that; Mr. van Ameringen that responded to became a supporter and the crisis. ended their chat by telling
“I’ve never been very political,” him, “If you’re still alive in he wrote in The a year, call me again.” Huffington Post in 2012. Mr. van Ameringen “But in the 1980s the AIDS also gave generously to epidemic began, and staying “In the Life,” an LGBT on the sidelines was newsmagazine show on simply not an option. The PBS; marijuana legalization government was doing absolutely efforts; and political nothing to halt the candidates. He and his spread of this disease nor spouse, T. Eric Galloway, help those who were suffering.” whom he married in 2014 after beginning their relationship
Mr. Jennings recalled in the 1990s, that Mr. van Ameringen formed the Galvan Foundation, would probe and question which addresses and tell you what he affordable housing and thought, sometimes other social issues in Hudson, bluntly. Mr. Jennings N. Y. found that out in the early In addition to Mr. Galloway, 1990s, when he had lunch Mr. van Ameringen is with Mr. van Ameringen to survived by six nieces and seek support for the Gay, nephews. His sister Lily Lesbian and Straight Education Auchincloss died in 1996, Network ( now and his sister Patricia van known as GLSEN), an organization Ameringen Kind died in he and others had 2016. Both were philanthropists. started to support LGBTQ