John Ringling’s Plan B

If your estate plan includes founding an art museum, don't forget your Plan B.

Like Dr. Barnes, showman John Ringling left us an awesome art collection. Though I've never visited the Barnes collection, I have fond memories of visiting the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida.

Ringling willed his home, Ca d'Zan, and his collection of art and antiquities to the state of Florida, along with a $1.2 million endowment, in 1936. Now the responsibility of Florida State University, the museum faces tight financial times. (Does anything in Florida, post real-estate bubble, not face tight financial times?)

Nevertheless, Florida has a strong incentive to keep the museum alive and well in its beautiful setting. John Mackey, who is expected to serve as the museum's next chairman, describes Ringling's Plan B:

"He … stipulated that the art could not be sold, nor could any portion of the facility. Otherwise, everything would revert to his heirs."