The Fuhrmans: Meet a Couple With a Passion for Collecting—And Supporting—Art

MOMA IS AMONG THE INSTITUTIONS RECEIVING FUHRMAN SUPPORT. PHOTO:  Roman Tiraspolsky/SHUTTERSTOCK

MSD Capital Cofounder Glenn Fuhrman majored in finance and art history at UPenn as an undergrad and has maintained his passion for art while running an investment firm on Wall Street. He and his wife Amanda are major collectors of contemporary art, and have been on ARTNews’ Top 200 art collectors list each year of the decade. 

Like Daniel Loeb, Steve Cohen, and Ken Griffin, to name a few, Fuhrman is yet another Wall Streeter with an avid interest in art. The Fuhrmans established the Fuhrman Family Foundation a few years ago, but in 2008, created the The FLAG Art Foundation in Chelsea. FLAG is a contemporary art exhibition space that's free and open to the public. Artists like Chuck Close and Jim Hodges have curated the space. So too has  NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal, who curated the exhibition “Size DOES Matter” which examined the many ways in which scale affects how we perceive contemporary art. Standing at 7'1'', I think I'll defer to Shaq on that one!

The Fuhrmans have also given steady support to MoMA, where Glenn Fuhrman is a trustee. He’s also a trustee of Tate Americas Foundation and in Philadelphia, a board member of the Institute of Contemporary Art. The Fuhrman family has underwritten free admission at the Institute of Contemporary Art annually for nearly a decade. 

While the recently-minted Fuhrman Family Foundation's grantmaking supports the arts, that's not all this wealthy couple is into. The family's giving also centers around issues like children’s education, women’s causes, health and well-being, minority causes and criminal justice reform. They've also supported places like Harlem Children’s Zone, NY Presbyterian Hospital/Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns, the Bard Prison Initiative, and Art for Justice Fund, which was launched last year by Aggie Gund, another arts patron and collector. The five-year initiative "aims to turn art into action, investing more than $100 million into strategic efforts to reform the criminal justice system."

Oh, and the Fuhrmans sponsored the creation of the nation's largest free Wi-Fi network covering nearly 100 city blocks in Harlem. Which is pretty cool. 

For a complete overview of the Fuhrmans giving, read our profile below. 

Related: Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman