CHICAGO, IL.- Amongst a room full of active bidders, property from the Estate of Ronald C. Sloter surpassed its high estimate at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers with buyers participating in person, over the telephone and on the internet. Proceeds from the auction will be used by the Columbus College of Art & Design to create a named scholarship memorializing Mr. Sloter’s parents, Wilford and Dorothy. Sloter was a longtime Columbus resident and generous supporter of charity and the arts.

During his life Mr. Sloter assembled an extensive collection of paintings, prints, drawings and furniture that illustrate his passion for American art and design. He amassed numerous drawings and paintings by George Wesley Bellows, and the centerpiece of his collection was Lady in a Green Dress, an oil on canvas that sold for $91,500 on Sunday. Two Theodore Earl Butler paintings sold for $43,920 and $41,480, respectively, and a Mary Cassatt watercolor sold for $41,480. American, English and Continental furniture and decorations from Sloter’s home rounded out the sale. An American tall case clock sold for $31,720, and an exceptional Gothic revival bed sold for $7,930. Strong interest in the sale as an entire private collection drew hundreds of competing phone bidders from across the United States.

Ronald Sloter’s wealth came from his family’s concrete supply business, which he took over after his father’s passing. Mr. Sloter kept a casual friendship with college president Dennison Griffith and supported the college through periodic gifts over many years. Most notable was a gift-in-kind of an enormous amount of high-strength concrete used as the base of the school’s ten-story ART sculpture. Around 2005 Mr. Sloter had approached Griffith to offer his home as a gift to the college, but after his passing in 2007 the school learned that Sloter had left it his entire estate. The college will create a scholarship fund using Sloter’s parents’ names, as he often did when giving charitably. “The stunning gesture of Ron’s gift will ensure that future generations of CCAD graduates remember his commitment to Columbus and to American art and design,” Griffith said.