Mark Hilbert: Founder of Hilbert Museum - Epi. 180 Host Dr. Mark Sublette

Today's guest was Mark Hilbert, and he has his own museum. That
alone is a very unique and amazing thing. This is an individual
who started his career in engineering and invented a module that
made climate control devices more energy efficient. He was able
to patent the technology and then ultimately sell the company,
helping him establish a commercial real estate business in
California. As you can tell, Mark is a very entrepreneurial
individual. Lucky for Southern Californians, he's also a guy who
loves art (and I mean, truly loves it). 

He was deeply inspired by art when he was in fourth grade, going
to the Southwest Art Museum in Los Angeles. That initial museum
visit served as the first domino in a line of many that set in
motion something that will help other people for generations, The
Hilbert Museum of California Art. 

You see, Mark started collecting pottery, baskets, and textiles,
eventually moving into paintings. He got to the point where he
had this tremendous collection of paintings. Paintings that were
primarily the California genre, as well as native arts. After a
while, he said: "Why can't I do a museum? You know, I want to
make a place where I can show what I'm interested in and what
probably other people are."  So he did it. He had spent the
time and energy to be on other museum boards and really came to
understand what was necessary for a museum to survive in this day
and age.

Mark was able to establish his museum at Chapman University in
Southern California. It's amazing for someone to have the
foresight, the ability, the time, the money to do something like
that, and it's going to be there in perpetuity for other
generations, serving over 3 million people in that region. I
haven't been to the museum yet, but I am definitely going soon.
It's on my list to-do and I can tell it's a really well thought
out and curated museum just from the way Mark describes
it. 

So this is a fun, interesting, unique podcast talking to somebody
who's taken their life's work and energy and money and forges it
into something for the rest of us. A very generous, philanthropic
something to ignite other people just like he was ignited in
fourth grade.