RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA— The Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts announces the passing of Beverly Wingate Maloof, widow of Sam Maloof, champion of historic preservation and the environment. Beverly was 94.
In 2001, Beverly Wingate married long-time friend, widower, and distinguished studio woodworker Sam Maloof, who had received the MacArthur Fellowship (known as the “Genius Grant”) in 1985. Beverly had first met Sam in 1958 at the Los Angeles County Fair where he was exhibiting his handmade furniture in the renowned Millard Sheets-curated design exhibition. Beverly ordered a table from Sam, and they became life-long friends.
For Beverly and Sam, the year 2001 was a whirlwind. It included not only their marriage and a trip to Washington D.C. for Sam’s retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, but it also marked the completion of the ambitious and multi-year-long Maloof historic home relocation project. This saw the home of Sam and Alfreda Maloof moved to its new and current site, making way for the 210 freeway.
On the new site, Beverly envisioned, championed, secured funding for, and ultimately designed (along with Rick Fisher) the Maloof Discovery Garden. The Garden demonstrates sustainable, water-wise landscaping with California native and Mediterranean plants and is a certified wildlife habitat.
As a Board of Director of the Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation, Beverly was revered for her warm social events for neighbors, donors and volunteers, and she was sure to serenade each Maloof Foundation staff member on their birthday with a song that she learned from her mother. A prolific fundraiser and a great connector of people, Beverly had a tremendous impact on the Maloof Foundation.
“My mother’s commitment to the Maloof was an example of how she lived her life—always in service of the greater community,” says Todd Wingate, Beverly’s son.
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska on May 15, 1931, Beverly cherished her childhood memories of running through the grass and climbing the elm tree in her yard. This lifelong love of nature defined her legacy in the Inland Empire as a champion of the environment. She participated in the effort to pass Riverside’s Measures C and R to regulate growth and development in the historic Arlington Heights Citrus area and along Victoria Avenue. She was also a founding president and board member of the Riverside Land Conservancy, and the Conservancy’s Wingate Maloof Award for effective environmental engagement is named in her honor. In addition, Beverly was a founding member of Riverside’s Citrus Heritage Park’s Board of Directors, a long-time trustee of the California Botanical Garden in Claremont, and the founder of the Maloof Discovery Garden.
