Philanthropy | Making a Masterpiece: Tom Koski and Sarasota Art Museum

By Ryan G. Van Cleave | Photo by Nancy Guth

Today, the Sarasota Art Museum—the region’s first museum dedicated to contemporary art—offers visitors a place to see thought-provoking exhibitions and experience educational programming with impressive change agents, leaders, and creatives. Ultimately, this top-level facility anchors the Ringling College of Art and Design Museum Campus and serves as a catalyst for appreciating and understanding the art of our time. Twenty years ago, however, it was just the old empty Sarasota High School that needed to be repurposed or torn down.

13 Sarasotans decided to commit to the former plan by spending years in conversation with local community, educational, and arts leaders. Their goal was simple: convert the historic Sarasota High School into a museum where people could experience the power of art to transform society.

Enter local philanthropist Tom Koski, who went to school in that building in 1978 and was “one of the kids who graduated high school and left Sarasota, vowing never to return.” After a successful career in the wireless communication industry in the Northeast, Tom and his wife, Sherry, came back to Sarasota in 2009 as “dreaded snowbirds.” During a reception at the house of friends, Tom met Wendy Surkis—the energetic and inspiring woman who led the charge to raise the funds to renovate the old high school by fostering a group of donors. The moment she met Tom and learned of his connection to the building, she beamed with joy.

“I don’t know what was said exactly,” Tom explains, “but ten minutes later, I had agreed to raise money from the Sarasota High alumni to get the project going.” He didn’t mind helping, though, because he didn’t want the building to be knocked down, and since he was recently retired, he was eager to find something to do with the rest of his life. It makes perfect sense that he followed in his parents’ footsteps, he realizes. “My folks had been very, very active in fundraising and nonprofits. My mother continues to be to this day, God bless her. And she turned 91 back in January!”

Tom looked at his new task and decided the best way to raise money was to offer a naming opportunity within the building. Wendy gave him a specific number to raise, and thanks to Tom’s ongoing efforts, the museum has the Sarasota High School Alumni Auditorium. The SHS Alumni Auditorium is a hub for the Museum’s public programs and lectures through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Ringling College, which is housed in the museum alongside all the art. 

“For me to be involved in a modern art museum is kind of a head scratcher,” Tom admits. “I’m in no way an artist. I also can’t cook or fly a plane, so people know not to ask me to do those things. But I quickly fell in love with the people I was working with—so generous and wonderful. It was a great project.”

Tom didn’t stop with raising money to name the auditorium, either. His father founded the local company Sun Hydraulics, and he always told Tom and his brother and sister that if a community is good to you, you need to be good back to it. That, combined with Tom’s growing sense of the importance of education, leads to his own motto: There’s nothing wrong with the world that a great education can’t fix.

Tom’s quick to add that you can’t have a great education without the arts. “You have to put the A in STEM which makes it STEAM,” he adds, echoing the line so often given by his frequent golf partner, Dr. Larry Thompson, President of Ringling College. “I used to think you couldn’t teach creativity, but Larry convinced me otherwise. While everybody can bounce a basketball, not everybody can become Michael Jorden. He earned the right to be Michael Jordan by working very hard at the craft. Larry convinced me that there’s little difference between that and creativity, which, of course, is the foundation of all art.”

Even though Tom had a high-powered career with AT&T Wireless and the .com industry, he jokes that he never worked harder than he does these days thanks to the many nonprofits he partners with and supports. He explains that reality by recalling a luncheon at Michael’s on East in May 2022 at which bestselling author and New York Timers columnist David Brooks said that there are more 501(c)(3)s in Sarasota than there are people. “There’s no lack of opportunity to support different areas here,” Tom says, “but once you find the areas you love, go make a difference.”

Tom serves as Board Emeritus with the Education Foundation of Sarasota County, and he’s currently Board Chair of Sarasota Orchestra. Those are two of his favorite organizations, he notes, but Ringling College will always be the deepest part of his heart. “That’s largely because of my relationship with Larry,” he says, “but it’s also a result of what I’ve seen there—what the students and organization as a whole do. And, of course, it saved my high school building, so there’s definitely a debt of gratitude there.”

When it comes to the arts and education, Tom and Sherry have made a difference. Whether it’s by sponsoring the Tower Gallery on the third floor of the Sarasota Art Museum, establishing the Education Foundation’s endowment fund-topping challenge, or giving $1 million to support the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ master plan, they’ve continued to follow the advice given by Tom’s dad—give back to the community that’s been so good to you.

FOR MORE INFORMATION on the Sarasota Art Museum, please visit www.sarasotaartmuseum.org or call 941.309.4300