A documentary film about Jack Warner, the late Gulf States Paper Corp. (now Westervelt Co.) CEO and president and a major collector of American art and furnishings, will show at 1:30 p.m. March 28 at the Bama Theatre.
The afternoon showing of the roughly 45-minute film is free of charge, and open to all. The Bama Theatre is at 600 Greensboro Ave.
There will be an invitation-only gala celebration that evening at NorthRiver Yacht Club, cornerstone of the expansive Lake Tuscaloosa recreational facilities that Warner brought to life in the 1970s.
The film, “Remembering Jack Warner: An American Patriot,” is being presented by the Warner Foundation. The organization was established more than 90 years ago in honor of Jack’s brother David, who drowned in a swimming accident, at the age of 12. It was begun by their mother, Mildred Westervelt Warner, daughter of Herbert Eugene Westervelt, who founded Gulf States around his patent on the first flat-bottomed brown paper bag. The machine he designed to create the bags can be seen in Westervelt corporate headquarters at 1400 Jack Warner Parkway.
The David Warner Foundation built swimming pools and supported water-safety education, in addition to bolstering numerous other endeavors benefiting the University of Alabama, and other local educational, civic and religious organizations.
Jack Warner took over as Gulf States CEO and president after his mother’s retirement in 1957 and led the company almost 50 years. He also assumed management of the family foundation.
A veteran of World War II, and graduate of Washington and Lee University, he developed an interest in eastern art he’d seen while stationed overseas, and also that encompassing American history.
Using corporate and foundation money, along with his own, he frequented Sotheby’s and Christie’s auctions. It was said that when he came in, other collectors would leave, knowing Warner would raise his paddle and keep it up until he’d won.
Over decades he acquired works by acknowledged masters, and championed many others, raising their profiles in the art world. Warner amassed what was considered one of the finest, most expansive private collections of American art and furnishings in the world.
In 2003, the foundation became the Jack Warner Foundation, continuing a mission of art and history collection and education. Pulling together the Gulf States and Warner Foundation pieces, along with works owned by him personally, he created the Westervelt Warner Museum of American Art (WWMAA) in a remodeled conference center on the North River Yacht Club grounds, with seven galleries displaying paintings, sculpture, and furnishings.
The WWMAA offered tours to thousands yearly, and docent training classes. Warner himself frequently conducted impromptu educational walk-throughs.
In 2011, Gulf States, in transition to the Westervelt Co., chose to sell some of its major pieces, to take advantage of recently enacted tax changes for corporate collections. The Warner Foundation returned to a non-operating philanthropic foundation in 2011, with its stated goal to educate about history through American art, and by support of other organizations and museums.
Warner died in 2017, at 99. His widow, Susan Warner, leads the foundation.
Reach Mark Hughes Cobb at mark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.com. To support his work, please subscribe to The Tuscaloosa News.