Gift supports Elizabeth Parker Ware deanship
With a generous gift, Donald R. Ware ’71 has endowed the top leadership position at David Geffen School of Drama and named it in memory of his mother, Elizabeth Parker Ware. The gift ensures that every dean—beginning with the current dean, James Bundy ’95MFA—will have permanent support to realize their vision for the school and its community.
“Through his remarkable gift, Don ensures that the school’s rich legacy is but prologue to a glorious future of training generations of theater artists to come,” said Bundy. “On behalf of the entire school community, I extend my deepest gratitude to Don for his great generosity.”
Ware is a member of the school’s board of advisors, a role he has held since 2016. After graduating from Yale College, he pursued a career in law and is currently partner and cochair of patent litigation practice at Foley Hoag in Boston.
Elizabeth Parker Ware was the granddaughter of a prominent newspaper editor, publisher, and writer. As a college student in the late 1930s, she became the
first woman editor of DePauw University’s student newspaper. Although the social
mores of the time prevented her from
pursuing a career in journalism, her affinity for words persisted. A dedicated mother and community volunteer, Parker Ware also loved music and dance, encouraging her son’s creative side and inspiring his lifelong love for the arts.
“With this legacy, I am honoring my mother’s extraordinary character and the career in journalism she never got to have,” said Ware. “David Geffen School of Drama is one of the world’s preeminent institutions dedicated to excellence in arts education, and I am so proud to know that her spirit will live on in such a distinguished way.”
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