Celebration of Houston Oilman’s Stunning $15 Million Museum Gift Triggers Real Tears
Intimate Gathering Hosted in a Vaunted Wine Room
By Shelby Hodge //
Photography Wilson Parrish
What: Dinner saluting philanthropists Sue and Lester Smith
Where: Tony’s wine room
PC Moment: In celebration of the Smiths’ $15 million grant to Holocaust Museum Houston, key players in the museum’s vast $33.8 million expansion joined forces over dinner to raise their glasses to the remarkably generous couple.
While it was an upbeat celebration infused by Lester Smith’s signature humor, the gathering was brought to tears as Lester thanked his wife for her unwavering support through his numerous health challenges, most recently a double lung transplant in 2016. HMH CEO Kelly Zúñiga led the praise for Sue Smith and the key role that she played in his recovery. Donna Vallone welcomed the guests, who had just come from the museum where the expansion plans and the Smith gift were revealed.
Who: Lester Smith’s son, Stuart, and daughter, Shelly Hendry, and her husband, Brian Hendry; museum exhibits architect Ralph Applebaum in from New York; HMH architect Mark Mucasey and wife Judy; capital campaign chairs Heidi Gerger and Benjamin Warren; HMH board chair Gary Markowitz; David Gerger; Kelly and Jim Stevenson, president of McCarthy Building Companies; Trish Morille and Fred Zeidman, former chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.
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