STUB to be replaced with sculpture
Adalberto Toledo | Staff Writer
UNT students will continue to see construction around the Library Mall — or rather destruction. Stovall Hall will be demolished and replaced with a green space adorned with a sculpture hopefully erected by next March, UNT President Neal Smatresk said.
The sculpture is the work of alumnus Jesus Moroles, who died in a June car accident. Moroles’ legacy is being carried out by friend Jerome Westheimer, who donated $1.9 million to UNT this year. About $250,000 went to commission the sculpture now being completed by the National Medal of Arts winner’s studio because of Moroles’ sudden death.
A resident of Ardmore, Oklahoma, Westheimer met Moroles at the art center in town.
“I run the Westheimer foundation that my dad founded,” Westheimer said. “[Moroles] came to the art center to have dinner one night and I was not there at the time, and it was mentioned to him that they would like to buy a piece of art.”
Westheimer and Moroles went to UNT at different times, Westheimer graduating in 1965 and Moroles in 1979.
“We had a discussion one day and he told me that he was a graduate of North Texas,” Westheimer said. “He mentioned UNT didn’t have any art by him and I said I could probably change that.”
The sculpture will be 18 feet tall, 20 feet across and will weigh upwards of 37,000 pounds. The sculpture will require the demolition of the STUB, reinforcement of the ground there, and finally its installation.
Westheimer contributed donations of $100,000 for an endowed fellowship in the College of Arts and Sciences and $50,000 for a UNT Kuehne Speaker Series Lifetime Membership. And $1 million will support the UNT Mean Green Athletics golf program, which will largely fund a new practice facility currently under construction at the Meridoe Country Club in Carrollton.
“My great-uncle Maxwell was a golf architect who designed many golf courses around Oklahoma,” Westheimer said. “I was playing with Henry and Trip Kuehne and made a comment that I was willing to give some money to the North Texas golf team.”
Westheimer had tried out for the Mean Green golf team in 1962, but did not make it. His love for golf, however, remains.
“The golf coach at the time said I could try out for the golf team, but it was late November,” Westheimer said. “A cold front came through and it was real cold. I missed by one shot making the golf team, but I’ve always had the love of supporting golf.”
Westheimer and his nephew both also contributed $250,000 each to his late sister Valerie Dean Wertheimer’s Scholarship in Music as well as the Valerie Dean Wertheimer Memorial Fellowship for Music, and for Visual Arts and Design. Valerie Westheimer graduated from UNT in 1970 with a degree in English.
“My younger sister passed away a couple of years ago,” Westheimer said. “I had discussed with my nephews, who are North Texas graduates, that we should do something to honor my younger sister.”
Featured Image: Soon Stovall Hall will be demolished and replaced with a green space with a new sculpture. Courtesy | UNT
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