The Joy of the Arts: Jack and Priscilla Schlegel

By Ryan G. Van Cleave | Photo by Nancy Guth | March 2022

When I interviewed Jack and Priscilla Schlegel for this article, one thing became immediately apparent—they were one of Those Couples. Happy. Joyous. Equals. “We’re best friends who’ve been married for fifty years, or something like that,” said one, to which the other said, “Fifty-four years.” And it’s pure clarifying versus chastising. Later, they told me: “We complement each other, learn from each other, and grow together.” 

Given that, it makes perfect sense when they explain, “In our interest areas and our thoughts about philanthropy, we are absolutely alike.”

While the Schlegels are making their mark on the local philanthropic scene after moving here in 1998, it’s not from seeing philanthropy firsthand as children. Priscilla says that neither of them grew up with that kind of wealth. In fact, Jack worked hard to put himself through pharmacy school at the University of the Pacific—the same school Priscilla attended for a year before transferring to University of California-Berkeley, where she fell in love with computers but ended up with a degree in the humanities. She fell in love with Jack, too, and soon after they both completed school, the two married. After robust careers that took them to Washington, DC—he worked as CEO for the American Pharmacists Association, and she worked for the RAND Corporation, which is a nonprofit global policy think tank—they’d had enough of the cold weather. A friend insisted, “You’ve got to go to Sarasota. That’s where all the culture is!” 

“And that’s why we’re here,” Jack said with a laugh. It proved to be the perfect place for them to live because they both love the arts. Jack pointed out that the Sarasota Herald-Tribune’s art critic, Jay Handelman, jokes to them that “you go to more things than I do!” And Jay might be correct. Jack and Priscilla have season subscriptions “to every professional theatre in Sarasota,” and they’re often attending shows four or five nights a week. 

Soon after they relocated to Florida, a philanthropist neighbor told Jack and Priscilla that while they were supporting the arts to a degree, they should give more generously if they could. “The hearse doesn’t have luggage racks,” she warned. Even if they weren’t childless, Jack and Priscilla believed that advice to be spot-on. “If you give it away while you’re alive, you can enjoy seeing it being used,” Jack realized. “You can hold organizations accountable to make that happen, and you’ll derive enormous pleasure. You might even stimulate others to be more generous!”

They took philanthropy so seriously that they enrolled in a philanthropy course to ensure they moved forward in a sensible manner. From that point on, they realized that they could afford to give more heavily, which led them to helping the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe and the Manatee Performing Arts Center build two new theaters. “We really like how they have good education programs, and how they promote youth in the arts,” Priscilla said. At the end of 2021, she and Jack donated $200,000 to support Florida Studio Theatre as a gift to celebrate how local theatre engages people, creates community, and promotes education.

To help them with their philanthropy, Jack and Priscilla partnered with the Community Foundation of Sarasota County in 2015. “We did our research on them and we were very impressed,” Jack said. “We actually interviewed the Foundation to see if it was where we wanted to put our money. We liked their philosophy—it’s so rooted in really understanding the needs of the community. They also had the ability to help us set things up so that, upon our deaths, our remaining wealth will be administered by them in perpetuity to help the areas we believe in. They gave us that mechanism.” 

Jack and Priscilla love partnering with the Community Foundation in general and its president and CEO Roxie Jerde, in specific, because Roxie is a fan of partnerships and offering ways to encourage others toward philanthropy efforts. Jack added, “We like to leverage our money in such a way that draws in other people to participate. We’ve found that it works. If you offer a 1:1 match with donations, it brings out a lot of new donors.”

While Jack and Priscilla have various philanthropic interests—they support numerous health and social services, such as school lunch programs over the summer, and Jack serves on the board of the New College Foundation—their passion in the arts is unmistakable. Jack made a point of noting that “one of the things we want to see is a new orchestra hall. We’re going 

to be behind that big-time when it’s ready to move forward.” He emphasized how special our community is by citing how during the pandemic, many orchestras around the world fired their musicians because no performances were happening. While the Sarasota Orchestra wasn’t performing either, not a single performer was laid off. Not one. “They survived because of philanthropy. We’re glad to have been part of that.” 

Through the arts, Jack and Priscilla have “met absolutely wonderful people, many of whom we might not otherwise have met. They’re so intellectually and psychologically stimulating.” Plus, Jack notes that when they see live shows, they’re completely engaged. For example, when they attend a show at the Florida Studio Theatre, “it’s just so thought-provoking. We spend our time walking back home talking about the play. Often before going to sleep, we’re still talking about the play. What was its message? What does it represent? It occupies so much of our mental space.” 

I don’t quite recall whether it was Jack or Priscilla who said this, but it doesn’t matter since they both so clearly meant it. “It’s just our life, the arts,” they told me. “It’s totally who we are.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Community Foundation of Sarasota County, please visit www.cfsarasota.org or call 941.955.3000.