Richard Lounsbery

[2] His father, Richard P. Lounsbery, hailed mostly from an English family that immigrated to America during colonial times.

His mother, Edith Hunter Haggin, had Turkish ancestry through her great-grandfather,[2] Ibrahim Ben Ali, a doctor who migrated from Turkey to the United States after the Russo-Turkish war.

[2] The Lounsbery family amassed their wealth from the extensive business ventures of Edith's father, James Ben Ali Haggin, who played a crucial role in strengthening the United States' position in the copper industry, developing farmland in California, and contributing to legislation governing the state's water rights.

[2] After serving in France as an Army lieutenant during World War I, Lounsbery decided to stay there to study art.

Following Richard's passing in 1967, Vera Victoroff Lounsbery collaborated with attorney Alan F. McHenry to establish a well-defined set of objectives for the foundation.