Nelson Donates Additional $1 Million Toward Rollins Museum of Art

June Nelson P’89 has donated $1 million to help fund the construction of a new building for the recently rebranded Rollins Museum of Art, which will be located between The Alfond Inn and Park Avenue. This is the second $1 million donation Nelson has made toward the project, with her first gift coming in March 2018. The building’s lobby will bear her name.

“Now is the time,” says Nelson. “I know the urgent need for more space to show our vast and diversified permanent collection, now largely in storage. We have the approval from Winter Park, we have the off-campus space, and we have the support of our leadership. Now is the right time to make it happen!”

Nelson served on the art museum’s board of visitors for 22 years, and she chaired the board during the 2004 renovation of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum. In addition to her philanthropy, she enjoys collecting art on her travels that have a special meaning for her. Her late husband, Jack, founder of Nelson Investment Planning Services, and June were members of the Winter Park Hospital family board when it was founded in 1999, helping fundraising efforts for the expansion of the Winter Park campus for the AdventHealth system. The Nelsons’ daughter, Margaret “Marli” Nelson ’89, is a graduate of the College.

At three stories and 31,000 square feet, the new Rollins Museum of Art will be a modern, welcoming cultural hub that offers year-round exhibitions and programs, free of charge, to the community. It will be adjacent to another building that is also in the fundraising stage: the new Crummer Graduate School of Business. Together with The Alfond Inn, these three facilities will form Rollins’ new Innovation Triangle, a hub of philanthropy, art, and entrepreneurship.