Today, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Stephanie Meeks, issued the following statement on the passing of businessman, philanthropist, and longtime preservationist John H. Bryan Jr.

“A kind and extraordinarily generous soul with a ready smile and an abiding love for saving places, John was a titan in our field, an important figure in the history of the National Trust, and an absolute treasure.

“As an active preservationist for more than three decades, he helped protect Chicago landmarks such as Chicago’s Lyric Opera House and Orchestra Hall and oversaw more than $30 million in financial support from the Sara Lee Corporation to museums all over the world.

“John also served as the second chairman of the National Trust Council, our society of premier donors and advisors. He was instrumental in protecting the Mies van der Rohe-designed Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois, and helped to spearhead the Trust’s acquisition of this international icon of Modernist architecture in 2003. Along with his wife Neville and the Sara Lee Corporation, he endowed the John and Neville Bryan Director of Museum Collections at the Trust, ensuring that our museum collections and historic sites would continue to be guided at the highest professional level. In 2014, we bestowed upon John preservation’s highest honor, the Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award, for all of his tremendous contributions to our field.

“ ‘I, like you, get great satisfaction from defining myself as a preservationist,” he said when accepting the award. ‘I, like, you, believe that working for preservation is a way we can make an important and lasting difference. Preservation is, thus, a gift; a lasting gift that we can make in our time to generations of the future.’

“John too was a gift. He brightened our days and made a profound and lasting impact on historic preservation in the United States, and his passing leaves us all deeply saddened. My heart goes out to Neville, the Bryan family, and all of his friends in Chicago and around the world.”