Suzanne Deal Booth

Suzanne Deal Booth is a philanthropist, vintner, and an advocate for the preservation of cultural heritage. In 1998, she founded the Friends of Heritage Preservation, a group of individuals committed to the critical preservation and conservation needs of artistic and cultural heritage.

Suzanne has a Master of Arts in art history and art conservation from New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. While an undergraduate at Rice University, and at NYU she had the opportunity to work directly under the tutelage of art patron and humanist, Dominique de Menil.

She worked with artist James Turrell on Skyspace at MoMA PS1 (1986), and later assisted on his retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Through her patronage, a Skyspace by James Turrell, titled Twilight Epiphany, was realized in 2012 and named the Suzanne Deal Booth Centennial Skyspace on Rice University's campus in Houston, Texas. 

In 2003, after she spent a year living in Rome with her family, the Suzanne Deal Booth Rome Prize Fellowship for Historic Preservation and Conversation was created at the American Academy in Rome awarding fellowships ever since.

In 2016, she created the Suzanne Deal Booth Art Prize - a biennial, unrestricted award given to an artist selected every two years, which also includes a solo exhibition at The Contemporary Austin and a scholarly publication. The first recipient was Rodney McMillian (2018). The prize was expanded from $100,000 to $200,000 and renamed through a partnership with FLAG Art Foundation in New York. Nicole Eisenman was the first recipient of the expanded prize (2020), and Tarek Atoui is the 2022 prize recipient.

Suzanne currently serves on the boards of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Menil Collection, American Friends of the Centre Pompidou, Ballroom Marfa, The Contemporary Austin, and Atelier Calder. She also served as a gubernatorial appointee on the board of the California Cultural and Historical Endowment, and was responsible for allocating $150 million in funding. Her current endeavors include establishing and cultivating Bella Oaks, an organic vineyard and olive orchard in Napa Valley. She was elected to the Board of Directors of Festival Napa Valley in 2021.