Tony Petullo (BS, Marketing 1961) is an art collector, charitable foundation president, and internationally recognized expert in self-taught and outsider art. He and his wife, Bev, live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Naples, Florida, and he spends a lot of time on the Urbana-Champaign campus, which he considers his “home away from home.” Philanthropic in every sense of the word, he generously shares his time, talent, and treasure to everyone’s benefit.
After graduating in 1961, Tony spent three years as a US Navy officer and five with Mobil Corporation. He founded Olsten Staffing Services, a successful temporary help firm in Milwaukee, and following its sale in 2000, he became president of the Anthony Petullo Foundation. During the 1970s, he developed a keen interest in works by self-taught and outsider artists from Europe and the Americas. Since then, he has become an authority on self-taught art.
Tony and Bev recently implemented a $5.75 million gift to the University of Illinois Foundation split between the Gies College of Business and the College of Fine and Applied Arts. Of the $3.25 million allocated to the College of Fine and Applied Arts, $1.75 million established the Anthony J. Petullo School of Art and Design Scholarship and Fellowship Endowment Fund, which will support undergraduate and graduate student scholarships and fellowships, and $1.5 million went to Krannert Art Museum to create the Anthony J. Petullo Art Acquisition and Conservation Endowment Fund. This fund will support the acquisition of American and European paintings, drawings, prints, and photography, as well as the conservation of works held in any part of the museum’s collection.
“This latest gift builds on a legacy of giving and thinking with us that is already crystal clear in its intention,” stated former FAA Dean Kevin Hamilton. “Tony experienced how creating and experiencing art changed him as a person, and he shares that story with everyone he can. He is also, of course, passionate about ensuring that others can experience that transformation as students and museum patrons. He’s among our very best advocates in every way, and we are so grateful to be building with him.”
Tony describes himself as being “a very lucky and happy man” and says that Illinois had a lot to do with that. “For me, philanthropy is about the relationships I’m able to build and the lives I’m fortunate to be able to touch. Business and the arts are very personal to me. They’ve been an important part of my life, and this is my way of giving back to society, to my community, and to Illinois.”
Krannert Art Museum is deeply grateful to Tony and Bev for recognizing the value of the arts in our society and for supporting the College of Fine and Applied Arts at Illinois in this way.
Author: Brenda Nardi, Senior Director of Advancement
