Beatrice Forgotston, Patron Of Arts And Education, Dies Times Picayune 09-18-1996 ************************************************* Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Beatrice Bloom Davis Forgotston, a philanthropist whose gifts included donating the Mary Cassatt painting "Mother and Child in the Conservatory" to the New Orleans Museum of Art, died Sunday at her home in Metairie. She was 88. Mrs. Forgotston was born in Poland and lived in the New Orleans area for more than 40 years. She was active in many community volunteer and fund-raising efforts in the arts, education and medicine. "Her giving was always done quietly, the same way she led her life," said Leonard Davis, her grandson. Recipients of Mrs. Forgotston's philanthropy included scholarship funds at Tulane University, Tulane Medical School and Tulane Law School. Mrs. Forgotston and her husband, Harold, who died in 1986, also donated several rooms at Touro Infirmary, where she was a volunteer in the family lounge of the surgery suite for 20 years. The Cassatt painting was one of several gifts the Forgotstons made to the New Orleans museum. The room in which it is displayed was named the Beatrice and Harold Forgotston Room in their honor. Mrs. Forgotston was one of the founding supporters of the Louisiana Children's Museum, which recently staged the Beatrice and Harold Forgotston Music Makers exhibit in her honor. Another of her gifts paid for the Forgotston Chapel of Touro Synagogue. She also was a major supporter of the Jewish Endowment Foundation. Inspired by her husband's failing eyesight in his final years, Mrs. Forgotston also supported WRBH-FM, a radio station for people who are blind or have difficulty reading, and Recording for the Blind, a foundation that provides audio tapes of books to blind people. Survivors include a son, Alvin H. Davis, three grandchildren and five great- grandchildren. A graveside service was held Tuesday at Hebrew Rest Mausoleum. Tharp- Sontheimer-Tharp Funeral Home handled arrangements.