When people speak about the Vilcek Foundation, they often speak about its scale, its ambition, and its impact. But those of us who worked closely with Marica Vilcek know that what makes the foundation extraordinary is not only what it does—it is the spirit behind it.

Marica was that spirit.

Much has been said about Jan Vilcek’s scientific achievements and his generosity. But those of us who knew Marica well understand that the foundation we see today bears the unmistakable imprint of her vision. She was, in many ways, its rudder—steady, thoughtful, and quietly guiding its course.

From the beginning, Marica believed the foundation should aim higher than the ordinary patterns of philanthropy. She did not want simply to distribute grants within familiar circles. She wanted the foundation to matter—to serve many people, to support talent wherever it emerged, and to build something enduring.  To focus on the future.  To recognize, encourage and support those doing very good work, rather than to add accolades to the already-celebrated.

When the foundation might have remained small, she pushed me to think bigger. When renting a space might have seemed sufficient, she encouraged me to imagine owning a building. And when that building was no longer enough, she pointed me towards bigger buildings and expanded programs.  She always encouraged and supported the foundation’s growth and to pressed us to undertake initiatives that other organization would never consider.

Marica had a gift for seeing possibilities that others did not yet see. And she had the quiet determination to see those possibilities through.

I experienced that personally.

Early in my career, when I was working with her at the Metropolitan Museum, I had no intention of going to graduate school. I had worked my way through college without debt, and I was determined to keep it that way.

Marica did not argue. She never imposed her will that way. Instead, she gently began to draw a map for me—suggesting paths I had not considered. Perhaps Hunter College. Perhaps the Institute of Fine Arts.

Eventually she helped create something extraordinary: a partnership between the Met and Bard Graduate Center that allowed a small number of promising art historian staff members to pursue advanced study with tuition waived. I was student number 1 in that program – a program that still exists today.

Marica had a remarkable ability to recognize potential in people—sometimes before they saw it in themselves.

And she believed deeply that talent should be nurtured wherever it appeared.

That belief shaped the Vilcek Prizes in a fundamental way. Marica resisted the idea that awards should simply go to the most famous or the most decorated. She understood that many systems reward those who are already at the top—the most published, the most cited, the most established.

She wanted something different.

She advocated strongly for recognizing younger artists and scientists, people who were still building their work and whose voices might otherwise go unheard. She believed recognition could be transformative if it arrived at the right moment.

In that way, the foundation became not just a place of recognition—but a place of encouragement and possibility.

Those who knew Marica also remember something else about her character.

She was extraordinarily attentive to other people. She noticed what people needed. She remembered details. She listened carefully.

At the same time, she possessed a core of iron determination when it came to the things she believed in.

Even in matters of health she showed that resolve. There were times when she suffered severe attacks of vertigo that would leave her lying on the floor in pain, unable to move. She would wait quietly until the episode passed, have a cup of tea—and return to work.

In all the years I knew her, she never took a sick day.

Her strength came from deep places.

Perhaps it came in part from the life she lived before arriving in this country—from a childhood in Slovakia marked by war and upheaval, and from the courage it took for her and Jan to leave their homeland in search of a freer life in America. As she later reflected, they took that risk because life under the Communist system held little promise for them and much danger.

Those experiences shaped the values that guided her life: resilience, independence, gratitude, and an enduring belief in opportunity.

Through the foundation, Marica helped ensure that the opportunities she and Jan found in America could be extended to others—especially immigrants whose talents enrich this country every day.

Her legacy lives not only in the buildings, programs, and prizes that bear the Vilcek name.

It lives in the people she encouraged, the paths she helped open, and the vision she quietly insisted we pursue.

For those of us who had the privilege to know her and work beside her, Marica Vilcek was not only a founder.

She was a guide.

And we are all better for having followed her lead.