The People

Director: Georganne Bingham

When the Art Museum of Western Virginia, now the Taubman Museum, hired Georganne Bingham from the North Carolina Museum of Art in 2003, one North Carolina colleague bemoaned the loss of “the best ambassador this museum ever had.”

Architect: Randall Stout

Architect Randall Stout, who designed the Taubman Museum of Art, lives in Los Angeles and has designed buildings in Europe. But he remains a soft-spoken native of eastern Tennessee.

Namesake: Nicholas and Jenny Taubman

Jenny Taubman chaired the new art museum’s fundraising campaign in the early years of the project. Her biggest success as a fundraiser turned out to be with her own husband, Nicholas Taubman.

Financial donor: Heywood Fralin

Roanoke’s new art museum is named for donors Nicholas and Jenny Taubman. But few have had more influence over the museum in the past 10 years than Fralin.

Art donor: Peggy Macdowell Thomas

When Thomas' uncle died, she left a treasure trove of his paintings and memorabilia to the Art Museum of Western Virginia — now the Taubman Museum of Art.

"Father" of the Roanoke art community: Jim Yeatts

Before there was a Taubman Museum of Art, or an Art Museum of Western Virginia, there was the Roanoke Fine Arts Center — and there was Jim Yeatts.