Martha Rivers Ingram, longtime chairman of Ingram Industries and "Nashville's First Lady of the Arts," died last Thursday at age 90. She was a businesswoman, fierce supporter of the arts and education, philanthropist, and civic leader. Among many survivors is John Ingram, chairman of Ingram Industries and Ingram Content Group.
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A native of Charleston, S.C., Ingram received a bachelor's degree in history at Vassar College, then worked with her father at WCSC Inc., radio and television stations in Charleston, and was a deejay for a classical music program on WCSC-FM.
In 1958, she married E. Bronson Ingram, and they moved to Nashville three years later. When he died in 1995, she became chairman of Ingram Industries and was on the board of directors of several public companies, including Baxter International, Ingram Micro, Regions Financial Corporation, and Weyerhaeuser Company. In 1995, she was elected to the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust, and served as the Chairman of the Board of Trust from 1999 until 2011. She also was a trustee of Vassar College, Ashley Hall, and the Harpeth Hall School. In 1992, Governor Ned McWherter appointed Ingram to chair the Tennessee Bicentennial Commission, which commemorated the state's admission to the United States.
Ingram was a lifelong supporter of the arts. She was the board chair of the Advent Theater, Nashville's first professional repertory company, and helped develop the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and helped establish the Tennessee Repertory Theater (now Nashville Repertory Theatre). She served on the boards of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville Ballet, Nashville Opera, Nashville Symphony, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, and the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. in Charleston. She was instrumental in the building of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville and the Gaillard Center in Charleston. She served as KeyBoard Chairperson of Blair School of Music. The Martha Rivers Ingram Center for the Performing Arts at the Blair School is named after her.
Ingram received numerous honors: President Richard Nixon appointed her to the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center; she has a star on the Music City Walk of Fame; and Belmont University presented her with the Applause Award. The State Hermitage Museum and the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts presented her with the Gold Medal in the Arts Award for her lifetime achievements supporting the arts. She has been honored with the Order of the Palmetto from South Carolina, and she was inducted into the Junior Achievement National Business Hall of Fame. She received the Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award; De Tocqueville Award; and the AJLI Mary Harriman Community Leadership Award. In 2005, Ingram received an honorary degree from the Baker School of Business at the Citadel.
Several significant sites bear her name: the Martha Rivers Ingram Garden Courtyard at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center; a bronze statue of her in front of Ingram Commons on the Vanderbilt campus; the Martha Rivers Ingram Art Center at Ashley Hall; and the Martha Rivers and E. Bronson Ingram Library addition at Vassar College.
Visitation with the family is scheduled for August 13, 4-7 p.m., at St. George's Episcopal Church, 4715 Harding Pike, Nashville. A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. on August 14, at St. George's Episcopal Church. A private graveside service will be held for the family after the funeral service. Pallbearers will be her grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to any of Ingram's favorite arts groups or Vanderbilt University.