Jack and Alice Frost have long been generous with their time in support of culture, health and the arts at West Virginia University, as well as in the local community and around the world.

Another example of the Morgantown couple’s generosity is their recent $25,000 gift to the Art Museum of WVU toward the construction costs of the new museum building, which officially opened in late August.

“Alice and Jack Frost are extremely generous and lovely people. We are grateful that they have chosen to support the Art Museum with their time and expertise, as well as with this gift for the building fund,” said Joyce Ice, director of the Art Museum of WVU.

“To honor them for their many gifts, an office in the Museum Education Center will be named for them.”

Dr. James Frost, a pathologist, was formerly the deputy chief medical examiner for northern West Virginia and Alice Frost taught classics (Latin) at WVU for many years. Both are now retired. Alice Frost serves as a docent at the Art Museum, one of the volunteers who lead interactive tours to help groups and individuals learn about the works of art on view.

As members of Friends of the Art Museum they are also contributors to the J. Bernard Schultz Fund, which was established in 2010 in appreciation of former Dean Bernie Schultz’s years of service to the College of Creative Arts. The fund is used to purchase works of art for the Art Museum collection in his name.

“Jack and Alice Frost are wonderful friends and also two of the most engaging people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing,” said Dr. Schultz, who is professor of Art History in the WVU School of Art and Design. “They have a wide variety of interests and they love travel, history and the arts.”

The Frosts have been on three of Schultz’s WVU Italian Art Tours—two to Florence and one to Rome, in which they both took an active part.

“Alice led the Rome tour with me,” Schultz said. “She presented the part on the classics and I gave the part on the Renaissance. Then, on the bus to Pompeii, Jack took the microphone and gave a very informative talk about the autopsy of Julius Caesar. They are both knowledgeable, engaging and exceedingly gracious people, who have always been very tuned in to what is happening in the world.”

Jack Frost is a 1957 graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and was the founder of the forensic pathology program in the WVU School of Medicine. In addition, he was formerly secretary of the Monongalia County Medical Society and served as president-elect, president, and chairman of the board of the National Association of Medical Examiners. For more than 20 years, he was in charge of the Student Academy of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and conducted seminars at their annual meetings. He has long been involved with the Sierra Club.

“Jack grew up in Baltimore and his love of the arts goes back to when he was a boy and visited the internationally renowned Cone Collection of Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art, given by the Cone sisters, who were friends of his family and also two of the most significant collectors of modern art in United States history,” Schultz said.

Alice Frost is British and received her bachelor’s degree in Latin from the University of London. In addition to teaching at WVU, she also taught at a private school in Baltimore and, until recently, taught home-schooled students in the Morgantown area. She says one of the biggest influences on her life was when she was ten years old and her family lived in Rome for six months, right after World War II. She practically lived in the Borghese Gallery at that time.

Alice has been involved with the West Virginia Council of International Programs for about 25 years and previously served on its board of directors. The outreach program promotes professional development and international understanding around the world. She has also been involved with Girl Scouts, both locally and in the Pittsburgh region, planning several trips abroad and accompanying the girls on visits to London and Switzerland.

The Frost’s contribution to the Art Museum of WVU was made in conjunction with A State of Minds: The Campaign for West Virginia’s University. The $1 billion comprehensive campaign being conducted by the WVU Foundation on behalf of the University runs through December 2017.

-WVU-

cl/11/04/15

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

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