Henry Van Ameringen

Henry van Ameringen, a major donor to LGBTQ+ and HIV organizations, has died at age 90. Van Ameringen, who died Wednesday September 9 2020, was “a philanthropic giant,” Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings wrote in a post on the organization’s website. Van Ameringen, a gay man, was an executive with New York City-based International Flavors and Fragrances, a company founded by his father, and a member of its board of directors. His philanthropic efforts began in the late 1980s, when AIDS was devastating the gay community. Beneficiaries of his generosity included Lambda Legal, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, New York City Anti-Violence Project, National Center for Transgender Equality, Ali Forney Center, Griot Circle, Movement Advancement Prohect, and New York’s LGBT Community Center. He was also a funder of In the Life Media, which produced In the Life, a PBS series on LGBTQ+ people and issues, and helped finance the documentary Stonewall! Rebellion, which aired on MSNBC last year. The philanthropist was also president of the Van Ameringen Foundation, which makes grants to support mental health services for people and communities with limited means, from 1991 to 2014. Van Ameringen is survived by his spouse, T. Eric Galloway, and six nieces and nephews.