"Movie mogul George Lucas of Star Wars fame on Wednesday made a $25 million gift to After School Matters, the award-wining arts and education program chaired by his wife and founded by former First Lady Maggie Daley.
Board Chair Mellody Hobson announced the extraordinary gift from her husband's movie-making fortune at the Gallery 37 Center for the Arts, 66 E. Randolph, as Lucas sat glowing in the front row.
"George and I are just really excited to make this gift to the teens of Chicago . . . because we believe — and you all know that I'm in the investment business — that investing in young people is the best investment of all. There is no better use of money," said Hobson, president of Ariel Investments.
Choking back tears, Hobson then thanked the man she married last summer at a star-studded lakefront wedding "for sharing the fruits of his movie-making" with Chicago teens.
"This is a very generous thing that he's doing for the adopted city that he spends a lot of time in now, Chicago. I'm sure he never imagined that in all of his creative brain," Hobson said.
With Mayor Rahm Emanuel standing a few feet away, Hobson paid homage to Maggie Daley, who took an embarrassing hole in the heart of the Loop and turned it into an arts and education program admired and duplicated around the world.
The wife of former Mayor Richard M. Daley died of breast cancer two years ago.
"I cannot help but to think about Maggie Daley and all that she did to make After School Matters what it is. She poured her heart and soul into this organization and into these programs," Hobson said."
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