Spencer Hays (July 14, 1936 – March 1, 2017) was an American businessman and art collector. He was the majority owner and chairman of the executive committee of Southwestern family of companies. With his wife, he made the largest foreign donation to the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

since its opening in 1986.

Early life

Spencer Hays was born in

Ardmore, Oklahoma Ardmore is the county seat of Carter County, Oklahoma, Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 24,725 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 1.8% increase over the 2010 census figure of 24,283. The Ardmo ...

. He grew up in

Gainesville, Texas Gainesville is a city in and the county seat of Cooke County, Texas, United States. Its population was 17,394 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is part of the Texoma region and is an important Agri-business center. History Found ...

. Hays played basketball in high school. He attended

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...

on a basketball scholarship.

Career

As a student at TCU, Hays started his career with

Southwestern Advantage Southwestern Advantage (formerly known as Southwestern Company), is an education material sales company based in Nashville, TN. The privately owned company recruits college and university students as independent contractors to sell educational b ...

in 1956. He became vice president of sales in 1966, executive vice president in 1971, and president in 1973. As Southwestern Advantage expanded into Southwestern Family of Companies, Hays became the chairman of its executive committee starting in 1983. He was the majority owner of Southwestern Family of Companies until the time of his death. Additionally, Hays founded Tom James Co., a fine clothing firm, in 1966. He purchased

Oxxford Clothes Oxxford Clothes is a luxury men's suit and sport coat manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. Individualized Apparel Group currently owns the brand. ''Forbes'' magazine has rated Oxxford as the best American-made suit. Oxxford Clothes was call ...

, high-end men's suit and sport coat manufacturer, in 1994. He was the owner of

Athlon Sports Communications Parade Media (previously known as AMG/Parade and Athlon Media Group) is a publisher founded in 1967 that is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville's Spencer Hays was its majority stockholder. It was purchased by The Arena Group in 2022 and no ...

, a publisher of sports manuals. Hays was inducted into the hall of fame of the

Direct Selling Association The Direct Selling Association (DSA) is a trade association in the United States that represents direct selling companies, primarily those that use multi-level marketing compensation plans. On behalf of its members' companies, the DSA engages i ...

in 1983.

Art collection and philanthropy

With his wife, Hays began collecting

American art Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization, there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial arc ...

in the 1970s. By the 1980s, they began collecting

French art French art consists of the visual and plastic arts (including French architecture, woodwork, textiles, and ceramics) originating from the geographical area of France. Modern France was the main centre for the European art of the Upper Paleoli ...

, especially

Les Nabis The Nabis (, ) were a group of young French artists active in Paris from 1888 until 1900, who played a large part in the transition from Impressionism and academic art to abstract art, symbolism and the other early movements of modernism. The me ...

. Hays and his wife co-founded the American Friends of the

in 2013. Hays served on its board of directors. In 2016, the couple donated 187 paintings worth £155 million to the museum. After their death, their donation will come up to 600 paintings worth £315 million. The donation includes paintings by

Pierre Bonnard Pierre Bonnard (; 3 October 186723 January 1947) was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color. A founding member of the Post-Impressionist gr ...

Édouard Vuillard Jean-Édouard Vuillard (; 11 November 186821 June 1940) was a French painter, decorative artist, and printmaker. From 1891 through 1900, Vuillard was a member of the avant garde artistic group Les Nabis, creating paintings that assembled areas ...

Maurice Denis Maurice Denis (; 25 November 1870 – 13 November 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist, and writer. An important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art, he is associated with '' Les Nabis'', symbolism, ...

Odilon Redon Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; ; 20 April 18406 July 1916) was a French Symbolist painting, Symbolist draftsman, printmaker, and painter. Early in his career, both before and after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, Redon worked almost exc ...

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...

Gustave Caillebotte Gustave Caillebotte (; 19 August 1848 – 21 February 1894) was a French painter who was a member and patron of the Impressionists, although he painted in a more Realism (arts), realistic manner than many others in the group. Caillebotte was kno ...

Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. A pivotal figure in landscape painting, his vast output si ...

Aristide Maillol Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol (; December 8, 1861 – September 27, 1944) was a French sculptor, painter, and printmaking, printmaker.Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette . "Maillol, Aristide". ''Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online''. Oxford ...

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (; ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern art, modern style characterized by a surre ...

and

Albert Marquet Albert Marquet (; 27 March 1875 – 14 June 1947) was a French painter. He initially became one of the Fauve painters and a lifelong friend of Henri Matisse. Marquet subsequently painted in a more naturalistic style, primarily landscapes, bu ...

. It was the largest foreign bequest to the museum since its opening in 1986. As a result, French president

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

thanked them for it and made them Commanders of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

. On July 10, 2019, a second donation of 106 pièces of art (40 paintings, 47 drawings and 19 sculptures) of Bonnard, Vuillard, Maurice Denis,

Félix Vallotton Félix Édouard Vallotton (; December 28, 1865December 29, 1925) was a Swiss and French painter and printmaker associated with the group of artists known as '. He was an important figure in the development of the modern woodcut. He painted portra ...

, Georges Lacombe,

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

Émile Bernard Émile Henri Bernard (; 28 April 1868 – 16 April 1941) was a French Post-Impressionist painter and writer, who had artistic friendships with Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Eugène Boch, and at a later time, Paul Cézanne. Most of his no ...

Camille Claudel Camille Rosalie Claudel (; 8 December 1864 19 October 1943) was a French sculptor known for her figurative works in bronze and marble. She died in relative obscurity, but later gained recognition for the originality and quality of her work. The ...

, Odilon Redon,

Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (; 12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist of the School of Paris movement; who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism (art), Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and g ...

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

or Modigliani was given by Marlene Spencer to the Musée d'Orsay. Hays donated $2 million to his alma mater, Texas Christian University. He previously served on its board of trustees.

Personal life and death

Hays met his wife, Marlene, at 14; they married when he was 19. They resided in a mansion modeled after the

Hôtel de Noirmoutier The Hôtel de Noirmoutier () is an ''hôtel particulier'' in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built in 1723. It has been listed by the French Ministry of Culture since 12 February 1996. The mansion served as a model for Spencer Hay ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. They also owned an apartment in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, New York City. Hays died on March 1, 2017, at age 80.Tennessean: March 2nd, 2020: Nashville businessman Spencer Hayes man of books, sports and high end suits died
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hays, Spencer 1936 births 2017 deaths People from Ardmore, Oklahoma Businesspeople from Nashville, Tennessee Texas Christian University alumni American chairpersons of corporations American company founders American art collectors Philanthropists from Tennessee Commanders of the Legion of Honour 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from Oklahoma Philanthropists from Oklahoma People from Gainesville, Texas Businesspeople from Texas Philanthropists from Texas