Jonathan (Jack) Westervelt Warner, prominent collector of American Art, and one of Alabama’s foremost industrialists and philanthropists, died at his home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on February 18, 2017, five months shy of his 100th birthday. A Memorial Service will be held in the Sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church at 2 pm, February 25th, 2017, followed by a reception in Warner Hall.
Jack was preceded in death by his first wife Elizabeth Butler Warner, his son David T. Warner, his parents, Mildred Westervelt and Herbert D. Warner, and siblings H David Warner, Jr. and Joan Warner VanZele.

He is survived by his loving wife of ten years, Susan G. A. Warner; his sister, Helene Hibbard; his son, Jonathan Westervelt Warner Jr.; grandchildren Cade, Westervelt and Hannah Warner, and step-sons, Patrick and P.J. Austin.

Mr. Warner’s love of art and lifetime support for the Metropolitan Museum of Art was recognized in 2012 when the early Hudson River room was named “The Jack and Susan Warner Gallery” in the New American Wing. Jack was was also known for his support of many living artists, including England’s premiere wildlife painter, Basil Ede, whom Jack commissioned in 1975 to paint a life-size collection of 100 Wild Birds of North America.

Jack and Susan married after an 18 year friendship, as a result of years of shared enthusiasm for American Art as well as the University of Alabama. Having assembled an illustrious collection of American Art in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Susan helped Jack advance the Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art, rendering Jack and his Collection accessible to thousands of children and adult visitors throughout Alabama and beyond, from 2003 until the Museum’s closing in 2012.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Hospice of West Alabama or to The Warner Foundation which is dedicated to preserving the memory of Jack Warner through Jack and Susan Warner Awards for Scholarship in American Art and History.