Janet Annenberg Hooker

Who was Janet Annenberg Hooker?

Janet Annenberg Hooker was an American philanthropist.

She was born in Chicago to Sadie and Moses Annenberg, the founder of a publishing empire based on The Daily Racing Form and The Philadelphia Inquirer. She was third of eight children born to the couple. Their names were Diana Annenberg, Esther “Aye” Annenberg Simon Levee, Enid Annenberg Haupt, Walter H. Annenberg, Lita Annenberg Hazen, Evelyn Annenberg Jaffe Hall, and Harriet Beatrice Annenberg Ames Aronson.

She contributed $5 million of the $10 million cost of the Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems and Minerals, which opened in 1997, and which is the most comprehensive Earth sciences complex of its kind. It is part of the National Museum of Natural History. The Hope Diamond is now on permanent display there.

Her first gift to the National Museum of Natural History was the Hooker Emerald Brooch, which she donated in 1977, when it was valued at US$500,000. She later gave the museum the Hooker Starburst Diamonds.

She also paid for the redecoration of the Blue Room at the White House, and she donated the Lobby Colonnade of the Metropolitan Opera in memory of her mother.