Obituary: Patricia A. Corbett, Arts Philanthropist, Dies at 99
January 30, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
The death of Patricia A. Corbett, a prominent philanthropist in Cincinnati,
will leave a void in that city’s arts scene, reports The Cincinnati Enquirer. Mrs. Corbett died January 28 at her home in Hyde Park, Ohio. She was 99.
Mrs. Corbett and her husband, Ralph, also deceased, gave millions of dollars to the arts through the Corbett Foundation, established in 1995, and through her own personal gifts.
The couple made their fortune via their door-chime company, NuTone.
Many of their gifts were made to help area arts-education organizations thrive. In 2000, for example, Mrs. Corbett made a personal gift of more than $2-million to Northern Kentucky University.
In 1997, Mrs. Corbett and the Corbett Foundation also gave the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra a $5-million grant to provide classroom and concert experiences for area students.
“We know how much good it does to get children to listen to classical music,” Mrs. Corbett told The Enquirer years before her death. “You try to touch them in some way, and music transports us into another world.”
