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San Francisco (dpa) - A wealthy opera lover has donated 35 million dollars to the San Francisco Opera in what was described as the largest gift of its kind in the US, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday.
The donation by Paris-born Jeannik Méquet Littlefield will be spread over five years and will help shore up the opera's finances, which have been on a shaky footing ever since the dot com crash and the economic downturn which followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
"I felt it was important to make a commitment while I was able to do so and see it enjoyed by so many people," Littlefield told the paper.
Littlefield came by her fortune by way of her late husband, Edmund Wattis Littlefield, who headed the family firm Utah International Inc, which in 1974 was bought out by General Electric in one of the largest deals ever for its time.
Littlefield, who fell in love with opera as a child, admitted that she had little success in getting her husband to share her love of opera.
"It is safe to say that Ed was not the most avid opera fan," she said in the Opera's programme. "He knew I loved it, so he supported my interest."
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
