UTD Lands a Major Arts Award, Courtesy of 105-year-old Philanthropist Margaret McDermott

Margaret McDermott recently celebrated her 105th birthday. She was born before the start of World War I. During the Great Depression, she was Margaret Milam, the society editor of The Dallas Morning News, covering 1930s debutante balls and charity events in such venues as the Mural Room of the Baker Hotel on Commerce Street.She would later marry Eugene McDermott, a co-founder of Geophysical Service Inc., and its offspring, Texas Instruments. By themselves, or through their foundation, McDermott and her late husband (he died in 1973) gave millions to civic, cultural and educational institutions, including the Dallas Museum of Art, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Texas at Dallas.UTD is the latest to receive one more example of Margaret McDermott's generosity, that being the Richard Brettell Award in the Arts, which, every other year, beginning April 9, will bestow an award of $150,000 upon an artist "whose body of work demonstrates a lifetime of achievement in their field."  Continue reading...