National Portrait Gallery founder L. Gordon Darling dies, Canberra Times, 31 August 2015 (... Leonard Gordon Darling, died in Melbourne on Monday, aged 94. The businessman and philanthropist, known as Gordon Darling, was the founding patron of the portrait gallery and the National Gallery of Australia's chairman from 1982 to 1986 ... In 1991 he established the Gordon Darling Foundation, which has since provided funding and support for visual arts projects to more than 700 institutional recipients. Mr Darling was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2004 in recognition of his "vision and philanthropy". British-born Mr Darling was on the board of BHP, a company co-founded by his grandfather, for a record 32 years from 1954. For 15 years during that time he was also chairman of Rheem Australia and Koitaki Ltd and for 20 years he was a director of Elder Smith Goldsbrough Mort Ltd., as well as being on the Council of Geelong Grammar School and a trustee of the World Wildlife Fund from 1978 to 1982) http://www.canberratimes.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/national-portrait-gallery-founder-l-gordon-darling-dies-20150831-gjc0yc.html
L. Gordon Darling AC, CMG b. 1921, National Portrait Gallery, viewed online 1 September 2015 biography (L. Gordon Darling AC CMG (b. 1921), former company director, is the Founding Patron of the National Portrait Gallery. Born in London, Darling was schooled in England before serving as a major in the AIF during World War II. In the early 1950s he became a company director with BHP, a position he held for 32 years. For fifteen years during this period he was also Chairman of Rheem Australia and Koitaki Ltd. Inaugural Chairman of the Board of the Australian National Gallery from 1982 to 1986, in 1987 ... he founded the Gordon Darling Australian Print Fund, which has acquired over 6 000 prints for the national collection. In 1991 he established the Gordon Darling Foundation, which continues to provide funding and staff development opportunities for public art institutions Australia-wide) http://www.portrait.gov.au/people/l-gordon-darling-1921
