Charleston’s Maier Foundation has granted $85,000 to West Virginia University in support of its All-Steinway Campaign, “All Keyed Up.”
WVU is working to join approximately 150 other major universities across the country and throughout the world that use Steinway pianos exclusively. The All-Steinway designation will also allow the college to partner with more than 1,500 Steinway Artists worldwide, enhancing master classes and performances at WVU and providing performance opportunities at Steinway Hall in New York and at Steinway events worldwide.
The Steinway B piano purchased from the Maier Foundation gift is the 26th piano purchased in the campaign. The School is approximately 50 percent to their campaign goal to be designated an All-Steinway School.
Maier Foundation made the gift in honor of Jonathan Cavendish, a 1970 School of Music Alumnus and Charleston resident.
“Our hope is that this gift will enhance the educational experience of the music students,” said Ed Maier, chairman of the Maier Foundation Board of Directors. “Jonathan has been a long-time, selfless community spirit who has given of himself and his talents for many years, without a hope of fee or reward. Our gift honors him and his many attributes. He has meant so much to the Maier Foundation as well as the entire State of West Virginia.”
The Maier Foundation was founded in 1958 by Clarksburg native William J. Maier, Jr. Maier graduated from Huntington High School and went on to attend Harvard University and Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He later graduated from Harvard Law in 1928. Maier practiced law in the Charleston area and invested in natural gas and merchandise warehousing.
The Maier Foundation has been a generous supporter of WVU, including a gift of over $1.2 million to establish the deanship at the WVU College of Law, a donation of $1 million to establish the William J. Maier, Jr. Chair of Research at WVU’s Charleston Division School of Medicine and a $300,000 grant to help students in need after the 2016 flooding.
The Maier Foundation also provided more than $2 million toward construction of a medical education building for the Charleston Division and the Maier Village student housing complex.
Maier’s motivation to give back to others was rooted in his mother’s advice to "do good with all the money you can spare.” In 2008, the Maier Foundation was named the WVU Foundation’s Outstanding Philanthropic Foundation.
“All Keyed Up” is sponsored through the WVU Foundation private non-profit corporation that generates and provides support for WVU—in conjunction with Steinway & Sons in New York and their regional representative.