CINCINNATI, OH.- In recognition of support from The Louise Taft Semple Foundation, Taft Museum of Art President/CEO Deborah Emont Scott has been named the Louise Taft Semple President/CEO.

“I am honored to serve as the Louise Taft Semple President/CEO,” said Deborah Emont Scott. “This new title reflects the tremendous support that The Louise Taft Semple Foundation has given to the Taft Museum of Art during its almost 85-year history. It also recognizes the robust family ties still in place today.”

Support for the Taft Museum of Art from The Louise Taft Semple Foundation ranges from the directorship to the 2004 renovation and expansion of the Museum. Most recently, the Foundation made a significant gift to the Endowment campaign.

According to Dudley S. Taft, Sr., Chair of The Louise Taft Semple Foundation and President, Taft Broadcasting, “Louise Taft Semple, like her parents, Taft Museum of Art founders Anna Sinton Taft and Charles Phelps Taft, left a legacy of generosity and public service. Today, their generosity continues to enrich the Greater Cincinnati community and impact the treasures, like the Taft Museum of Art, that they cherished.”

“We are extremely grateful to The Louise Taft Semple Foundation for its ongoing and generous support,” said Taft Museum of Art Board Chair Gerry Greene. “We are thrilled that two Taft family descendants currently serve on our Board of Directors.”

Deborah Emont Scott has led the Taft Museum of Art since late 2009. Her responsibilities include providing a vision and leading the strategic direction for the Museum. She oversees exhibition and educational programs; all operations of the Museum including its intellectual and programmatic direction and serves as the institution’s chief fundraiser. Ms. Scott led the fundraising effort for Daubigny, Monet, Van Gogh: Impressions of Landscape exhibition, the most ambitious show the Taft has ever undertaken.

The Louise Taft Semple Foundation was founded in 1941 by Louise Taft and her husband, William T. Semple, Ph.D. Today, The Louise Taft Semple Foundation continues to honor its namesake and her family by providing philanthropic support for artistic, cultural, educational, civic and social service organizations as a means of enhancing the quality of life in Greater Cincinnati. Since its creation, millions of dollars have been donated.

Anna Sinton Taft and Charles Phelps Taft had two sons, David Sinton and Charles Howard, and two daughters, Jane and Anna Louise. Anna Louise, known as Louise to avoid being confused with her mother, married William T. Semple in 1917.

Louise served as president of the Cincinnati Scholarship Foundation and was a major patron of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Art Museum. William T. Semple served as the department head for the University of Cincinnati Classics Department from 1920 to 1959. With the help of his wife, he embarked on a lifelong mission to create, through the investment of their own personal fortune, the finest Classics department in North America. When Louise died in 1961, she continued her support for the department by leaving a large dedicated endowment in honor of her husband. At the time, it was the largest gift in the history of the University. Louise also left significant bequests to the Taft Museum of Art, The Cincinnati Art Museum, Christ Church Cathedral, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. The Semples had one son, Charles Taft, who died as a young boy, thus ending this branch of the Taft family tree.