Anne Gould Hauberg, 98, dies; arts philanthropist, co-founder of Pilchuck Glass School

Whether for her children’s birthdays or to connect with renowned artists, Anne Gould Hauberg threw parties with the finest aesthetic.

Ms. Hauberg, daughter of prominent Seattle architect Carl Gould, early on had an eye for beautiful spaces that eventually turned into a lifelong passion for architecture and art that influenced institutions spanning the region.

“She was really Seattle’s Martha Stewart,” said daughter Fay Page.

“Beauty was a guiding force in her life,” added Stephanie Stebich, executive director of the Tacoma Art Museum.

Ms. Hauberg, known for her arts philanthropy and advocacy for people with learning disabilities, died April 11 of natural causes at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. She was 98.

Born in Seattle, Ms. Hauberg was inspired by her father, who designed the original Seattle Art Museum — now the Seattle Asian Art Museum on Capitol Hill — as well as 28 buildings on the University of Washington campus, including Suzzallo Library. He was also a founder of the university’s architecture school.

“Why the arts?” Ms. Hauberg told The Seattle Times in 2004. “Because as my father said, ‘If you don’t support them, you won’t have them,’ ” she said.

Co-founder Pilchuck Glass School

Ms. Hauberg studied architecture, though never obtained a college degree, before establishing a celebrated career as an ardent collector and supporter of the arts. She also became known for her civic activism during the 1960s, pushing to preserve historic buildings in the way of new development.

In 1941, she married John Hauberg, whose extended family co-founded the Weyerhaeuser Co. The couple had three children, Fay, Sue and Mark, the latter two with learning disabilities. Mark died during an operation when he was 4 years old.

The children’s disabilities spurred the Haubergs to start the Pilot School for Neurologically Impaired Children in 1960. Originally two small buildings on the University of Washington campus, the school is now the Experimental Education Unit at the Center on Human Development and Disability at the UW.

Around the same time, Ms. Hauberg fought demolition of historic buildings in Pioneer Square, helping to establish the Historic Sites Committee.

In 1961, she led a group of 100 protesters wielding rhododendrons down Seventh Avenue in a march against the building of Interstate 5 through the center of downtown. She also fought against the proposed redevelopment of Pike Place Market in 1963.

In 1971, the Haubergs, with famed glass artist Dale Chihuly, founded Pilchuck Glass School in the foothills of the Cascades, near Stanwood, Snohomish County. John Hauberg’s company owned a 15,000-acre tree farm on which the property was built.

“If it weren’t for Annie,” Chihuly said, calling her by a nickname used by close friends, “there would be no Pilchuck Glass Center.”

He added: “One of the things she liked about art was the artists. She really enjoyed getting to know artists.”

Her “vision,” connection with artists

Her reach in the arts went beyond Seattle. She gave the Tacoma Art Museum much of her glass art collection. Works she’s collected can also be seen at Harborview Medical Center, the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art and The Bush School, a private school in Madison Valley that Ms. Hauberg attended.

“She was very thoughtful about where she wanted her collections to go,” said her friend and co-executor of her trust, Tom Mansfield. “It’s one of the ways she supported artists. She would form collections and give them to the public.”

In the early days of Microsoft, going against her advisers, Ms. Hauberg bought stock, Mansfield said. “She was a person who always thought out of the box.”

The investment paid off, and she used some of her fortune to fund the Museum of Glass in Tacoma.

She was also instrumental to the founding of the Municipal Arts Commission, the predecessor to the Seattle Arts Commission, and formed the Committee of 33, devoted to the enhancement and beautification of the city of Seattle.

“Her view — and it’s something she got from father — it’s very holistic,” said Barbara Johns, a former chief curator of the Tacoma Art Museum and author of Ms. Hauberg’s biography, “Fired by Beauty.”

“She sees it all as a fabric — the landscape, the architecture, the built environment,” she said. “All of it is part of the whole. That drove her whole vision.”

Ms. Hauberg’s determination was often met with resistance, “but she got things done,” Johns said. “She would take on causes. She was wonderfully imaginative.”

The Haubergs divorced in 1979.

In 1985, Ms. Hauberg moved to an apartment on First Hill, where she lived until moving to a private assisted-living residence three years ago. She turned her apartment, designed by Wendell Lovett, into a showcase of her art collection.

“Walking into her Spring Street apartment was astonishing. It was one of the great galleries of Pacific Northwest art,” Stebich, of the Tacoma Art Museum, said. “She had a very personal, close relationship with artists. She lived in the thick of the collection.”

A private funeral will be held Monday at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, fittingly, at the building her father designed.

She is survived by her daughters. A public memorial will be held in May, with details to be announced.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Anne Gould Hauberg Scholarship at Pilchuck Glass School, the Anne Gould Hauberg Glass Collection at the Tacoma Art Museum and the Experimental Education Unit at UW.