Joe and Teresa Long will celebrate 60 years of marriage this February — a trifle, Mr. Long quips, compared with his parents’ 70-year bond.
Longevity is not the only notable quality of their relationship. They have channeled their shared appreciation of Texas, education, and the arts into major philanthropic contributions throughout their home state, donating millions of their self-made wealth to universities and helping to create a new home for the major performing-arts organizations in Austin.
“We’ve been fortunate to live this long and to do these things,” Ms. Long says. “It’s a wonderful life.”
It took hard work to make it so. The two grew up in different parts of rural Texas. For Mr. Long, young adulthood included two years at junior college before he enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin. After graduating, he spent two years in the Army.
Meanwhile, Ms. Long, née Lozano, was busy breaking barriers. She also attended the state university’s flagship campus, although her time there didn’t overlap with her future husband’s. She graduated in only three years and later became the first Mexican-American woman to earn a doctorate in health and physical education from the university.
The two met while teaching in a small South Texas town called Alice. Both returned to Austin — Mr. Long to pursue a law degree, Ms. Long to obtain her Ph.D.
After marrying in 1958, they continued to build their résumés. Ms. Long advised state and federal officials on education policy. Mr. Long investigated securities fraud for the state before opening a private law practice specializing in banking law.
Time to Spend
The Longs built their wealth by helping to create two banks nearly four decades ago. Hard times hit Austin in the 1980s, and many local banks suffered, but the couple’s institutions flourished and acquired many struggling competitors.
Their major giving began after they sold their banking empire in 2000. It had $620 million in assets at the time of the sale. Having no children, they decided to start giving their money away.
“We thought you couldn’t just make money and sit on it,” Mr. Long says.
The couple identified education as their principal area of interest, “because education was the way we rose through the ranks, so to speak,” he explains.
Texas colleges and students have benefited big time. The couple has given a total of $50 million to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio to support scholarships, faculty recruitment, and research on diabetes and other illnesses. The University of Texas at Austin’s Institute of Latin American Studies bears Ms. Long’s name, thanks to the couple’s endowment gift of $10 million.
“We’re hoping that will build better relations with Latin America,” she says. “They’re our closest neighbors.”
Beyond that, the Longs support scholarships for students attending many colleges and technical schools and also those seeking medical and law degrees.
“We don’t believe that everybody needs a college education, but everybody needs training,” Mr. Long says.
Art Lovers
The Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings that adorn the walls in the Longs’ house attest to their passion for the arts. Mr. Long spent 20 years as president of the Austin Symphony. Ms. Long served presidential appointments to the National Endowment for the Arts and its National Council on the Arts.
The Long Center for the Performing Arts, home to Austin’s ballet, opera, and symphony, is their crowning achievement. They donated $20 million for the project, and Ms. Long credits her husband with helping raise the rest of the money.
“It was something that was needed for all our arts,” she says.
As they hoped it would, the center “has become a communitywide project,” Mr. Long says, and a “very popular venue.”
The couple also supported the creation of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. A gallery at the entrance of the museum bears Ms. Long’s name, and the couple recently gave the institution a piece by Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot.
The Longs don’t plan to donate the rest of their collection to museums, however, for fear that the pieces they’ve loved might end up in storage. They intend to have their paintings sold upon their deaths so that other collectors have the opportunity to enjoy them. The proceeds will go to the foundation they established right after selling their banks.
The Long Foundation had $8 million in assets listed on its most recent informational tax form; the couple makes its major gifts independently of the foundation. The foundation has a simple, two-step grant-seeking process. First, a charity submits a “letter of inquiry” to confirm that its services match the foundation’s goals. Next is a standardized application form, created by Central Texas Education Funders, a grant makers’ membership organization.
Giving Local
The Longs are globe-trotters, having visited every continent and more than 120 countries. But they’ve purposely focused their philanthropy on their home state.
“I know there are a lot of problems all over the world that could use some money, but I think charity begins at home,” Mr. Long explains. “We have plenty of problems in Texas that need a solution.”
And they don’t have much interest in perpetuating their foundation much past their lifetimes. The reason is simple, Mr. Long says: “When you’re dead, you don’t know what they’re going to do.”
Thanks to their shared interests, the octogenarians say they’ve never had a serious disagreement about where to direct their charity.
“Being married as long as we have is very special to me,” Ms. Long says. “God has been very good to us, guided us, and blessed us.”
