Jon Oscher, philanthropist and pioneer in the cable television industry, founded the Booth Western Art Museum in 2003. It was one of four museums he founded, all of them in Cartersville, Georgia, where he was a pillar of the community. Oscher died on February 19. He was 93.
Jon Oscher, left, with Ray Thacker and artist Fred Fellows. Images courtesy Booth Western Art Museum.Known for his love of the arts, science, cars and industry, Oscher was a larger-than-life figure in North Georgia, where he turned his interests into four world-class museums: the Booth Museum, Bartow History Museum, Tellus Science Museum and Savoy Automobile Museum. The Booth Museum came on the heels of the sale of his cable company. To guide the museum, he hired Seth Hopkins, one of Oscher’s cable employees, as the museum’s first executive director. At the time, the museum hadn’t even broken ground yet. It would go on to become an iconic venue for fine art, and the largest permanent exhibition space for Western art in the country.
“Jon was one of the most generous and honest people you’d ever meet. Very humble. You would never know he had two nickels to rub together if you met him because he was never pretentious, but he had a great vision of what he wanted to do,” Hopkins says. “He also loved Western art. Jon particularly loved the old illustrators, including some of those illustrators who became members of the [Cowboy Artists of America]. Frank McCarthy was one of the earliest artists he collected, and Howard Terpning. He most admired Clark Kelley Price because he could create scenes right from his mind.”
Oscher was humble about his contributions and never put his name on any of his museums. Even the museum websites didn’t list him as the founder, and still don’t. “He and his family believed that true philanthropy was anonymous. He didn’t think it was good form to be putting his name all over stuff,” Hopkins adds.
Jon Oscher, founder of the Booth Western Art Museum.
Born in the Bronx, New York, Oscher moved to Georgia as a child. He graduated from the Tennessee Military Academy and then the Georgia Institute of Technology. He became involved in the cable industry in the late 1960s, during a time when a private cable companies were building vital infrastructure across the country. He ran his company for 32 years. “While his business acumen helped shape the modern media landscape in the region, his true passion was philanthropy,” the Booth said in a statement. “He believed deeply in giving back to the communities that supported his family, a mission that will be carried forward through his family foundation.”
A public celebration for Oscher was held in March at the Booth Museum. More than 600 people attended. —
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