Evelyn Sharp

Evelyn Sharp (died April 16, 1997) was an American hotelier, philanthropist, and art collector. She was the owner of the Beverly Wilshire and Stanhope hotels.

Biography Sharp was a native of Manhattan and attended Columbia University School of Journalism, where she married her husband, real estate investor Jesse Sharp, who built a number of hotels including the Stanhope Hotel, located opposite the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

After her husband died in 1941, Sharp, who was then an interior decorator, took over the business and enriched the family real estate portfolio with her own. She sold 14 properties owned by her husband and added the Gotham Hotel, the Saranac Inn, and the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. She and her son also donated the Sharp Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In 1952, Sharp endowed the Evelyn Sharp Foundation to support the performing and fine arts, museum arts, and arts education in New York City.

Personal life and family Sharp had two children: Peter Jay Sharp, and Mary Sharp Cronson. A past member of the Forbes 400, Her grandson, Paul Cronson is also a trustee of the Guggenheim.

Sharp died on April 13, 1997, at Lenox Hill Hospital. She was a resident of the Gotham Hotel and the Carlyle Hotel.