The LeMay Car Museum announced yesterday it has received a $300,000 donation from The Boeing Company as part of the museum’s ongoing fund-raising effort.
The check was presented to the museum last Saturday at its 5th Annual Fabulous Fifties Sock Hop by Boeing’s Karin Leslie, Community Investor, Arts & Culture-Global Corporate Citizenship in the Northwest Region. In recognition for the gift, a classroom will be named for Boeing in the Education Center of the new museum.
“Boeing was among the first major corporations to become a sponsor of the Museum and we’re delighted at this generous gift given to help us complete the first stage of the campaign,” said museum President and CEO David Madeira. “Boeing is home to many car enthusiasts who support us, and we look forward to providing a place where Boeing can host corporate events for clients and employees for years to come.”
The Harold E. LeMay Museum aims to preserve and interpret the LeMay Collection of automobiles and memorabilia, along with vehicles and artifacts it may acquire. The LeMay Collection was recognized in the Guinness Book of World records as the largest privately held car collection in the world. At its peak, the collection was in excess of 3,000 automobiles, motorcycles, trucks and other vehicles, plus more than 30,000 pieces of related 20th century Americana. Plans are under way to build a museum in Tacoma to feature a permanent collection of 1,200 cars and memorabilia. The museum plans are to break ground in April 2008 and open to the public by 2010.
More information about the museum is available online at lemaymuseum.org.