Jan Isaac Shrem, whose passions spanned publishing, winemaking, collecting art, and philanthropy, passed away peacefully this month at the age of 94 after a long illness. Shrem leaves a legacy of art at the University of California, Davis, that will live on for generations.
He and his wife, international arts patron Maria Manetti Shrem, built a longstanding partnership with UC Davis to support arts, art history and design programs at the university. The San Francisco resident is remembered for his dedication to making the arts and education accessible.
“We are mourning our dear friend Jan Shrem,” Chancellor Gary S. May said. “Jan’s deep joy for life inspired all who had the pleasure to know him, and his love for the arts has forever transformed our community. We send our deepest condolences to Maria and their family.”
Naming gift for Manetti Shrem Museum
It was a shared affinity for the arts that united Shrem and Maria Manetti, first as friends and then as a married couple. Their shared dedication to philanthropy and passion for art, music, wine and culture took them around the globe many times.
These interests were also what inspired them to connect to UC Davis, at the suggestion of a mutual friend, the late Margrit Mondavi, who with her husband had given the naming gift for the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis.
Margrit Mondavi additionally gave a $2 million gift for a flagship contemporary art museum at UC Davis, then reached out to her Napa neighbors. In 2011, the couple made a $10 million naming gift for the new museum.
“Jan is so involved in art — the wonderful lectures he gave! His collection! His appreciation for art — it was all there,” Margrit Mondavi told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2016.
The Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art opened its doors in 2016, serving both the public and the university with dynamic exhibitions and programs that are free for all. A third of the museum’s 50,000-square-foot space is devoted to instruction, including a lecture hall, classroom space and an art-making studio.
Arts and education for all
In making the museum’s naming gift, Shrem said: “Our philosophy of giving rests on simple concepts. We believe that education and the arts should be accessible to all people and that a curious, open mind should be nurtured and supported.”
“Jan was truly one of a kind,” said museum Founding Director Rachel Teagle. “His generosity, infectious enthusiasm and adventurous spirit are embodied in every aspect of our museum. We will honor and share his memory by telling the story of his paintings in the exhibition Light into Density.”
The couple also funded arts education in the College of Letters and Science, establishing the most extensive artist residency program of its kind in the country with The California Studio: Manetti Shrem Artist Residencies.
“Jan Shrem found his greatest inspiration in the arts, and his efforts to share that inspiration at UC Davis will be felt for generations. He was a true partner in making education and the arts accessible to everyone,” said Estella Atekwana, dean of the College of Letters and Science.
In May 2024, Maria Manetti Shrem built on that gift with a $20 million-plus pledge to catalyze a holistic arts renaissance at UC Davis, funding eight new endowments and programs in arts, arts history and sustainable design. A ribbon-cutting for the renamed Maria Manetti Shrem Arts District within the College of Letters and Science is scheduled for late January 2025.
“Maria and Jan’s generosity has been nothing short of transformational at UC Davis,” said Shaun B. Keister, vice chancellor for Development and Alumni Relations. “Jan’s memory will live on as a beacon of philanthropy in action, one which will profoundly influence future artists and inspire all students, no matter their field of study.”
Light into Density
It had been Shrem’s wish that “every student approach art as a beginning or as an inspiration for their future and for their education.” On Sept. 19, the Manetti Shrem Museum opened its first student-curated and student-designed exhibition, Light into Density: Abstract Encounters 1920s–1960s | From the Collection of Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem.
The exhibition features 15 paintings from world-renowned abstract artists shown together for the first time in decades, including one of Shrem’s favorites, Roberto Matta’s Chamboles les Amoureuses, 1947. He had met the South American surrealist artist while living in Paris in the 1970s, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The works comprise a shared gift between the Manetti Shrem Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and will be on view at UC Davis through May 5.
Global lens on life
Shrem brought a deep global perspective to every conversation, influenced by his life experiences. He was a brilliant listener — with a keen sense of humor that could light up a room — and was known for well-timed quips and reflections that tied conversations together, often delivered with a twinkle in his eye.
That international life experience began in Colombia in 1930, where Shrem was born to Jewish-Lebanese parents. He spent his formative years between Colombia and Israel, immigrating to the United States at age 16.
After college, Shrem moved to Japan, where he established a successful company specializing in selling English-language encyclopedias, engineering and art books. The company grew to 50 offices with 2,000 sales representatives.
During his time in Japan, Shrem married Mitsuko Shrem, a union that would last four decades until her passing.
In the 1980s, the couple relocated to Napa after a brief period in France and Italy. There they founded Clos Pegase Winery, designed by visionary architect Michael Graves and hailed as “America’s first monument to wine.” The 450-acre wine estate in Calistoga was also the perfect location to display his collection of paintings and sculptures.
Shared love for giving
Shrem and Maria Manetti married at San Francisco City Hall on Valentine’s Day in 2012. He sold Clos Pegase in 2013 and began selling artworks to fund philanthropic giving.
Over the years, the couple have established several vital funds supporting education, the arts, music, medicine and aid for people in need, spanning more than 55 charitable programs across the United States Italy, the United Kingdom, Africa, Mexico and France.
Together, their philanthropy has shaped the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond in profound ways. Beyond UC Davis, the couple have supported the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the San Francisco Opera, Festival Napa Valley, the King’s Foundation and the Royal Drawing School in the United Kingdom, KQED, Cal Performances, Palazzo Strozzi Foundation, San Francisco Symphony, SF Film, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
They have worked to expand Italian language, music and visual arts education in secondary schools by supporting a variety of programs. The couple gave the lead gift to the UC San Francisco Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Neurology Clinic, and also support Sutter Health California Pacific Medical Center Cardiology.
A monument to art
In lieu of flowers, Maria Manetti Shrem kindly requests donations be made to UC Davis’ Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art in honor of Shrem’s enduring vision of making arts and education free to all.
