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FOCUS ON PHILANTHROPY
Marianne and Mark Dauer
In December 2002, Marianne and Mark Dauer earned the distinction of being the first members of The Historic New Orleans Collection by joining the newly formed Laussat Society. According to Mark, a lawyer who had worked on various projects for The Collection, “I had always thought it would be nice if there was a friends’ group [at The Collection], and lo and behold, I get a letter in the mail from [colleague and friend] Charles Snyder. I said, ‘This is what I’ve been waiting for!’ I sat down, filled out the form, wrote the check, and sent it in.”
Mark had become friends with the late Snyder while working at the firm of Milling Benson Woodward LLP Snyder was also a board member, at the time, of the Kemper and Leila Williams Foundation, which operates The Collection. “He was really kind of a mentor to me,” Mark says. It was Snyder who sent Marianne and Mark the persona] invitation.
“I had always thought in the back of my mind, ‘I wish there was a way for people who aren’t working at The Collection to be more actively involved,”’ he says.
Before becoming members of The Collection’s Laussat Society, Marianne and Mark had supported The Collection in almost every other way possible. Both raised in the New Orleans metro area—Mark grew up in Broadmoor, and Marianne’s family moved from Jackson, Mississippi, to River Ridge when she was a little girl—the Dauers thrive on community involvement. Marianne is active in her church—she serves as
accompanist on piano, has held positions on the church board, and has been involved with its youth group—and Mark is on the board of trustees of the local botanical garden.
The couple met through a tennis league at New Orleans City Park in the 1980s. They were both working at the Federal Reserve at the time. Marianne, they both attest, was and is the better player. But as a double, they found love. “Marianne has always impressed me because she’s a very pure spirit,” Mark says. They’ve been married for 30 years and have three children: Helen, 27; John, 23; and Grace, 20.
Along with keeping the house running, Marianne says, “I love playing the piano and volunteering a lot.” Mark, who is now a lawyer with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is a collector of, among other things, 18th-century silver sugar tongs. “I love cleaning and polishing them,” he says. Preferring tongs from the Georgian period, which includes the English Regency, he introduced himself to leading silver scholars David Shlosberg and Graham Hodges and learned all about the different marks that accompany pieces, indicating the item’s maker, origin, and more. Mark even wrote an article on Georgian sugar tongs for the September/October 2010 issue of Silver magazine.
Because of their collections and various civic roles, the Dauers understand that a successful museum, especially a nonprofit, requires great care,
organization, and member support. From their continued position in the laussat Society to their participation in THNOC’s staff-led trip to Nova Scotia, Marianne and Mark happily reap what they sow at The Collection.
“I am very much attuned to how nonprofits use their funds,” Mark says, referring to his position as treasurer for a local foundation. “The Collection is a good steward and does an amazing job. It makes the most of all the materials that are donated to it.”
—Molly Reid
Mark Dauer displays an item from his collection of Georgian silver sugar tongs.
12 Volume XXXI, Number 1 —Winter 2014