History of FAPE

FAPE was founded by Leonore Annenberg, Wendy W. Luers, Lee Kimche McGrath and Carol Price. As spouses of former U.S. ambassadors, and with Mrs. McGrath as the Director of Art in Embassies at the State Department, FAPE’s founders recognized a need to build upon the Department’s efforts by providing permanent works of art that would endure the tests of time in embassies across the world.

Among FAPE’s accomplishments are the formalization of a partnership with Sotheby’s to provide pro bono services to the State Department to inventory and evaluate historic furnishings; the millennium GIFT TO THE NATION – a collection of American art for permanent display in U.S. embassies; restoration projects at U.S. diplomatic facilities in Brussels, Budapest, Buenos Aires, London, Madrid, Paris, Prague, Rome and Vienna; and the complete refurbishment of public rooms at the U.S. Embassy Residences in Beijing and Warsaw.

Since our founding, each President’s administration has supported FAPE’s activities, including President and Mrs. Obama. FAPE would like to recognize and thank the late President Ronald Reagan and Mrs. Nancy Reagan; President George H.W. Bush and Mrs. Barbara Bush; President William Jefferson Clinton and Mrs. Hillary Clinton; and President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush. Also, FAPE would not succeed without the support of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and our Honorary Patrons — former Secretaries of State Madeleine K. Albright; James A. Baker III; Henry A. Kissinger; Colin L. Powell; Condoleezza Rice; and George P. Shultz.