The Susan Hammer Center

Susan Hammer was a powerful advocate for arts and
culture in Portland and a leader in the legal community
in which she worked for over 40 years. She was deeply
passionate about the mission of Literary Arts and
served as a member of the Board of Directors and
the Development Council. She participated in and
generously supported all our programming.
In the summer of 2020, while the pandemic was
still developing and our community was in a deeply
uncertain time, Susan asked to meet with our Executive
Director, Andrew Proctor, to discuss the future of
Literary Arts. Andrew went to Susan’s home to show her
the preliminary slides for our Campaign for Literary Arts.

Susan passed away on August 26, 2020. In a lasting
act of generosity, she had established an Oregon
Community Foundation legacy fund to distribute the
remainder of her estate to organizations that bring
people together in conversation to share experiences,
build community, and inspire change. Through work
with her advisors, Literary Arts was granted a catalytic,
transformational gift of $3 million to launch our
Campaign for Literary Arts and inspire our community
to support the next chapter of the organization.

We are deeply grateful to Susan for her confidence
in Literary Arts and this powerful endorsement of our
mission. We trust that she would have been proud to
see how our community has invested in this project,
and we are proud to honor Susan’s legacy in the naming
of our new headquarters at 716 SE Grand Avenue.