ROCHESTER.- The Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester has received a $1,000,000 gift from long-time friend and supporter Helen H. Berkeley.

The bulk of the gift, one of the largest in MAG history, will be used to renovate and reinstall the second-floor antiquities gallery. This gallery, which will be renamed the Helen H. Berkeley Gallery of Ancient Art, will showcase a rare pair of fourth-century Egyptian coffins currently on view on the first floor, as well as objects from Egypt, the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. The remainder of the gift will go to establish the Helen H. Berkeley Fund for Art Conservation.

“Helen’s magnificent and visionary gift honors the Gallery’s collection, mission and near 100-year legacy,” says director Grant Holcomb. “Her generosity and personal commitment underscore the community-based support that has made the Gallery one of the finest regional art museums in the country.” Adds Andrew Gallina, president of the Gallery’s Board of Managers, “We are pleased and fortunate to receive this level of support, which will help the Gallery to further its mission in our community.”

“The Berkeley gift puts into motion a project that has been in the planning process for a number of years: the reinstallation of the oldest objects in the Gallery’s collection in the most up-to-date museum environment,” says chief curator Marjorie B. Searl. “The opportunity to present these significant works of art within the context of new research and interpretation continues the Gallery’s mission of bringing the world within reach of our visitors—a group that includes the many students and teachers who make extensive use of this part of the collection.”

Helen Berkeley served as president of the Gallery Council, an all-volunteer fund raising organization, from 1990 to 1992. She has been a member of the Gallery for more than 30 years, most recently as a member of the Director’s Circle, and was a donor to “Let the Art Live On,” the MAG endowment campaign that concluded in 1997.

Earlier this year, Mrs. Berkeley was a sponsor of the major traveling exhibition American Impressionism: Paintings from the Phillips Collection.

She is a member of the Board of Directors at Graham Corporation, where her late husband, Frederick D. Berkeley III, served as CEO.