Janet Annenberg Hooker (formerly Kahn and Neff; October 13, 1904 – December 13, 1997) was an American philanthropist.

Life

She was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

to Sadie Cecilia ( Friedman) and

Moses Annenberg Moses Louis Annenberg (February 11, 1877 – July 20, 1942) was an American newspaper publisher who owned the ''Daily Racing Form'' and the ''Philadelphia Inquirer''. He also owned General News Bureau, a wire service that reported the results of ...

; Moses was the founder of a publishing empire based on '' The Daily Racing Form'' and ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

''. She was one of eight children (seven girls and a boy) born to the couple; two of the other children were Enid A. Haupt and Walter H. Annenberg. She contributed $5 million of the $10 million cost of the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals, which opened in 1997, and which is the most comprehensive

earth science Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

s complex of its kind. It is part of the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

. The

Hope Diamond The Hope Diamond is a blue-violet diamond that has been famed for its great size since the 17th century. It was extracted in the 17th century from the Kollur Mine in Guntur, India,. The Hope Diamond is a blue diamond. Its exceptional size h ...

is one of the gems on permanent display there. Her first gift to the

was the

Hooker Emerald Brooch The Hooker Emerald Brooch is an emerald brooch designed by Tiffany & Co. The brooch is on display in the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington ...

, which she donated to them in 1977, when it was valued at

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

500,000."Show highlights: 1991 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show", ''Mineralogical Record'', June 2004.Molotsky, Irvin;
Travel Advisory; Jewel With a Past Reigns in New Gallery
, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', September 21, 2007. Retrieved March 31, 2010. (She had purchased the brooch from Tiffany & Co. in 1955 for an undisclosed price.Morgan, Diane (2007); ''From Satan's crown to the holy grail: emeralds in myth, magic, and history'', Praeger Publishers Inc., ) She later gave the museum the Hooker Starburst Diamonds. She was married three times: first in 1924 to publisher L. Stanley Kahn (divorced 1937), then in 1938 to investment banker Joseph A. Neff (died 1969), and lastly in 1974 to James Stewart Hooker, head of labor relations for ''

'' (died 1976).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooker, Janet Annenberg 1904 births 1997 deaths American people of German-Jewish descent Annenberg family 20th-century American philanthropists