Preservation Maryland joins with the rest of the broader preservation community in mourning the passing of Richard H. Driehaus, an icon of preservation philanthropy.
A Chicago native, he founded Driehaus Capital Management in 1982, which today manages over $13 billion in assets. His success in business supported a wide and diverse array of philanthropic pursuits — from education to journalism to traditional architecture and preservation.
richard h. driehaus: Champion of preservation philanthropy
In addition to supporting a wide array of preservation, architecture and arts organizations in his native Chicago, Driehaus’ interest in historic preservation extended across the nation and the globe. His support of preservation reached dozens of organizations — large and small — from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to The International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism (
Campaign for Historic Trades Trainees, 2018.
Preservation Maryland was the fortunate recipient of funding from the Driehaus Foundation to support the acceleration and expansion of the Campaign for Historic Trades — an initiative that would not have begun with Driehaus’ early philanthropic investment. Today, as a result, we are working to establish registered federal apprenticeships for historic trades — a first for the preservation community — which is a direct result of Driehaus’ support.