MARK AND JANET HILBERT
CO-FOUNDERS
HILBERT MUSEUM
WHO: Local philanthropists and art collectors. Mark Hilbert is founder of Newport Beach-based Hilbert Property Management. Janet Hilbert is a former professor at Santa Ana College.
WHY: Started museum at Chapman University to showcase their personal collection of over 5,000 California scene paintings, works of movie and animation art and American illustration, a trove valued at more than $10M.
IN THE NEWS: Opened the overhauled Hilbert Museum of California Art in February. Mark estimates the attraction could draw about 100,000 visitors annually. Original museum drew around 30,000 guests every year.
NOTABLE: Financed and led $12M expansion of Hilbert Museum, which added a second building and tripled the museum’s size from 7,600 to 22,000 square feet. The gift follows the couple’s first donation to Chapman of $10M, which included art valued at over $7M and $3M toward the museum’s initial home.
IN THEIR WORDS: “At some point I thought, if it seems to interest a lot of people, maybe it would be appropriate for us to open an art museum so that we can share it with the public … I wanted to do something that would give back to the community.” —Mark Hilbert
LEARN MORE: hilbertmuseum.org
