Who is Wallis Annenberg? Net worth and all about billionaire philanthropist as she dies at 86
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Wallis Annenberg in 2024 (Image via Getty)Heiress and philanthropist Wallis Annenberg passed away on July 28. Known for her charitable donations across the fields of arts, culture, education, and science, Annenberg succumbed to complications from lung cancer, noted her family in a statement featured in The Los Angeles Times.
Wallis Annenberg was the granddaughter of Moses Annenberg, a Pennsylvania-based entrepreneur who owed the The Philadelphia Inquirer, according to the New York Times. Born to Moses’ son, Walter Annenberg in 1939, Wallis Annenberg was the president and chief executive of the Annenberg Foundation, which was set up by her father after he sold his media empire, Triangle Publications, comprising of TV Guide, Seventeen Magazine to Rupert Murdoch in 1988 for $3.2 billion.
Wallis Annenberg’s wealth and philanthropic activities explored
Although Wallis Annenberg’s personal wealth isn’t made public, Vanity Fair estimated in 2009 that the philanthropist was reportedly worth $200 million. As per Forbes, the Annenberg family’s combined wealth was $2.1 billion as of 2015. Additionally, the Annenberg Foundation, which was led by Annenberg, had total assets amounting to $1.46 billion in 2023, noted ProPublica.
Annenberg inherited half of her media tycoon father, Walter Annenberg’s $4 billion wealth when he passed away in 2002, as per The Los Angeles Times. The inheritance was split between Walter’s family, comprising of Wallis and her four children, Walter’s wife and Wallis’ stepmother, Lee and her children from other marriages, noted the publication.
After her father’s death, Annenberg became the vice president of the Annenberg Foundation, with her stepmother taking on the mantle of the chairman and president, noted Vanity Fair. After her stepmother herself passed away in 2009, Annenberg took on the role of the chairman and president of the foundation, with three of her four children becoming vice presidents, as per the publication.
The foundation’s charitable initiatives reached far and wide, leading to the Annenberg family’s name being displayed proudly atop many institutions such as the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, as per Forbes.
According to ABC News, institutions such as Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Wallis Annenberg Building at the California Science Center, Wallis Annenberg GenSpace senior center and the yet-to-open Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing feature Annenberg’s name, demonstrating her Foundations’ activities across the fields of arts, culture and science. ABC News also notes that Annenberg, who was a board member of LA's Museum of Contemporary Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or LACMA, was endowed the position of the museum’s director with a $10 million grant.
During her lifetime, Annenberg referred to her foundations’ activities in an interview with Vanity Fair. While addressing critics claiming the naming of institutions with her own name was egotistic, the heiress said,
“If there’s criticism, we haven’t heard it. Since 1989, our foundation has awarded over 8,000 grants and $4 billion in contributions, including over 500 grants of $1 million or more. So, relative to that, our name isn’t on that many projects.”
About Wallis Annenberg’s approach to philanthropy
A recipient of the 2022 National Humanities Medal from then-President Joe Biden, Wallis Annenberg approached philanthropy with an intent to support people who had visionary ideas. The executive director of Annenberg Foundation, Leonard Aube spoke to Vanity Fair, giving an insight into the heiress’ projects,
“Wallis’s approach to philanthropy is to look for vision-driven leaders. If you’re doing something in the community, and you’re exceptional, like Geoffrey Canada, with the Harlem Children’s Zone, she’s going to support you. If you’re a world-class marine biologist, like Dr. Roger Payne, who discovered that humpback whales sing, and you want to save an 1863 paint factory in Gloucester, Massachusetts, so you can move the Ocean Alliance headquarters into it, she’s going to support that.”
Annenberg herself commented on the works she supported throughout her life, and told Vanity Fair,
“Jane Goodall, Jerry Brown, Geoff Canada, Steven Spielberg with the Shoah Foundation—they’re the real heroes. Nothing can get done without these people. And that’s what I’m supporting: their vision.”
At the time, Annenberg expressed her interest in establishing a project for the welfare of animals, and during her conversation with Vanity Fair, said,
“I want to do the Mayo Clinic for companion animals. The idea is to teach people a reverence for animals and to tie it in to the local ecology and environment. After two years of negotiations, we have a magnificent piece of land in Rancho Palos Verdes. I call it my last hurrah, but who knows?”
Even though Annenberg worked on innumerable projects after that discussion, the clinic, called the Annenberg Project at Lower Point Vicente, remained unrealized.
TOPICS: Wallis Annenberg, Annenberg Foundation