Existing comment:
Thomas Fortune Ryan
The mural paintings were made possible by a donation of $20,000 from Thomas Fortune Ryan.
Born in Nelson County, Ryan left Virginia and eventually secured a job on Wall Street. He founded a Manhattan streetcar company in 1883 and expanded his holdings to include coal mines, banks, public utilities, tobacco, and railroads. He was a generous philanthropist who funded the construction of a number of Catholic churches in the Richmond area. He was the tenth richest man in the United States when he died in 1928. |