'Humble person' provides windfall

A publisher leaves surprise gifts of more than $100,000 to the Clearwater Main Library, Ruth Eckerd Hall and Morton Plant Mease.

By CHRISTINA HEADRICK, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 25, 2002

CLEARWATER -- The letters arrived in late March at the Clearwater Main Library, the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts, Ruth Eckerd Hall and Morton Plant Mease Foundation. In them came a surprise:

Peter E. Field, a New York City book publisher who had lived in Island Estates until his death in 1996, had willed $115,571 to each of the groups. He left an identical amount to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Now that Field's wife, Earleen Gibson Field, had passed away last year, the letters stated, a trust fund that had been set up by Mr. Field was to be distributed to the charitable groups.

The recipients of the gifts were thrilled. Clearwater Library director John Szabo called the letter a "wonderful surprise."

Roger Zeh, director of development at the museum, felt the same way. Field had been a museum member since 1979, he said.

"His generosity is incredible," Zeh said. "But who would have known? He was a humble person who never tried to be a flash around here."

Kathy Rabon, executive director of the Performing Arts Center Foundation that supports Ruth Eckerd Hall, said the Fieldses had been members of the center since 1982.

"We did not know prior to receiving the documents that we were a beneficiary," Rabon said. "This will be put toward our renovation and expansion, a $21-million project."

Mr. Field was born in Dresden, Germany, but spent much of his life in New York City, where he founded Universe Books Inc. with his wife. The couple published art books and calendars and met scores of artists whose work they collected. They had no children.

The pair moved from New York City to Clearwater's Island Estates neighborhood in 1977. They lived in this area until Mr. Field's death at age 82 in December 1996, said Barbara Dorian, a friend who now lives in Boyton Beach.

"He had a feeling for things like fine art museums and the library," said Dorian, who is also the trustee overseeing distribution of the trust.

In addition to being a "very refined person" who enjoyed supporting the arts, Mr. Field had great respect both for Morton Plant Hospital and the Mayo Clinic, where he and his wife had been patients, Dorian said. Mrs. Fields suffered from multiple sclerosis.

"He had been part of our donor base for years," said Marty Matula, executive vice president of the Morton Plant Mease Foundation. She said she wasn't sure yet how the hospital's gift would be spent, but that it was very much appreciated.

Mrs. Field died last year at her home in Lakeland, where she had moved after her husband's death, Dorian said. Upon her death, she gave an art collection -- which included works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall -- to the Polk Museum of Art.

The Clearwater City Commission will take a vote next week to accept the gift on behalf of the Clearwater Main Library, Szabo said.

The money could be used to help build the new $20.2-million main library or for a project there, Szabo said.

-- Times news researcher Cathy Wos and information from Times files contributed to this report.

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