Lord Sainsbury founded The Linbury Trust in 1973 with his wife, Anya, Lady Sainsbury CBE, and has since awarded millions of pounds to charitable organisations across the world. A champion of the arts, Lord Sainsbury was instrumental in helping to secure the legacy of some of the UK’s valued cultural venues, including the Ashmolean Museum, British Museum, National Gallery and Dulwich Picture Gallery. The Museums and Heritage sector has benefitted greatly from Lord Sainsbury’s philanthropy over his lifetime, and his contributions will live on in the experiences of visitors to those venues.

The Linbury Trust awarded GEM £50,000 of core funding in January 2021, to deliver a programme of training and mentoring over two years to a range of museums impacted by Covid-19. This generous contribution enabled us to support sector professionals when they needed it most, facilitating the sharing of knowledge and skills to build resilience within our member organisations. Lord Sainsbury’s generosity continues to support the valued One to One Mentoring Programme, from which over 250 mentoring partnerships have been formed within the sector since Spring 2020.

Lord John Sainsbury will be remembered for his devotion to the arts and cultural sector, alongside his other charitable interests, which include education access for young people, homelessness, independent living for older people, and humanitarian aid. He was also the Life President of supermarket retailer Sainsburys, the family business in which he began his career as a grocer in 1950. His and his wife’s generosity through The Linbury Trust has enabled museums and other cultural venues throughout the UK to share stories, welcome new audiences, and connect and learn together for years to come.

GEM sends its condolences to Lord Sainsbury’s wife, Lady Sainsbury, and their family on this sad occasion.