Rebekah Harkness

Rebekah West Harkness (née Semple West; Her grandfather founded the St. Louis Union Trust Company. Career In the 1960s, Harkness became well known as a philanthropist and patron of the arts. Through the Rebekah Harkness Foundation, Harkness sponsored Jerome Robbins and the Joffrey Ballet. When the Joffrey Ballet refused to rename their company in Harkness’ honor, she withdrew funding and hired most of the Joffrey dancers to her new company, the Harkness Ballet. In addition to founding the Harkness Ballet, Harkness launched a ballet school and home for the company called Harkness House, as well as the refurbished 1,250-seat Colonial Theater, which presented the Harkness Ballet and other dance companies to New York audiences. Through the William Hale Harkness Foundation, she sponsored construction of a medical research building at the New York Hospital and supported a number of medical research projects. Later in life, she studied with Nadia Boulanger at The American Conservatory, in Fontainebleau, France; at the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze in Geneva; and the Mannes College of Music in New York City. She also studied orchestration with Lee Hoiby and received a Doctor of Fine Arts degree