Harry T. Wilks:
A Reminiscence

Members of the Vergilian Society will be most familiar with Harry Wilks from his name associated with the Villa Vergiliana and scholarship programs. I would like to share some context and some personal reminiscences of him, his generosity, and his love of learning. I first became aware of Harry Wilks as a celebrated philanthropist in my town, Hamilton Ohio. He had endowed many worthy causes in the community as well as a number of programs and buildings on two campuses of Miami University, where at the time he served on the Board of Trustees. I knew his name because it was literally attached to buildings around town! As he was planning the transfer of his personal collection of ancient art to a non-profit museum, which he had designed himself, he invited me to examine and study the collection and to write label copy for the new museum. As we talked, his interest in the ancient world, especially history and art, became clearer. He loved learning new details about his sculptures that he had purchased as art objects. And he enjoyed sharing those with others. I remember once when then-governor Ted Strickland stopped by and Harry happily shared some recent research with him about a sculpture.

From what I knew of Harry’s long history of philanthropy, love of learning, and of Classical antiquity, it seemed natural to tell him about the Vergilian Society and the Villa Vergiliana. I remember mentioning it to him one evening when he invited me over for dinner along with members of the Cincinnati Opera Company. He seemed interested in helping the Society and said something to that effect that I thought was vague but encouraging. Based on that, I prepared a powerpoint presentation on the Society’s programs and the villa with facts on annual usage of the villa and such. Having made an appointment to come to his office, I made my pitch. Which he quietly laughed pretty much all the way through. He didn’t need the pitch; he’d already decided to support the Society! My vision was that he would provide funds to allow for the endowment of the Villa Vergiliana and its historic restoration. He had a different and grander vision. He wanted to upgrade the facility with, among other things, new bathrooms (for which we are all grateful!). And he insisted that he also give enough money to endow scholarships for high school and college students and teachers to attend programs. That was something that hadn’t even occurred to me, but was very important to him. He wanted the Villa to be a study center that was not just structurally stable but accessible to students who couldn’t otherwise afford to study the ancient world in Italy.

Harry was always a hands-on donor, taking personal interest in every project he supported with his philanthropy. As I mentioned he designed the museum he built for the non-profit that would hold his ancient art. He wanted it to look like a renaissance villa full of ancient art. And it does. For the Villa Vergiliana, he proposed many alterations and improvements. Some were possible in a historic structure and some were not. His one visit to the Villa occurred in the last years of his life when he was largely confined to a wheelchair. He was undeterred at the difficulties of this and recruited a local high school English teacher, who was also a power lifter, to accompany him as his personal assistant as he traveled in non-accessible Italy. Harry was undeterred by challenges. After he passed away on his 89 th birthday, March 11, 2014, I was one of three speakers at his memorial service. It was a privilege to acknowledge and to share my recollections of his generous life and work.

- Steven L. Tuck, Miami University, former president, Vergilian Society