The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation was founded in 1918 by Louis Comfort Tiffany to operate his estate, Laurelton Hall, in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. It was designed to be a summer retreat for artists and craftspeople. In 1946 the estate closed and the foundation changed its purpose from a retreat to the bestowing of grants to artists.
The first director of the foundation was Sarah Eileen Hanley.[1]
In closing down her father's residence after his death, George Frederick Kunz' daughter, Ruby Zinsser, donated two paintings by Louis C. Tiffany to the Tiffany Foundation. "In 1935, the family of George F. Kunz donated two Tiffany paintings to the picture gallery." In this, she was following her father's inclination, since he had previously donated a Syrian bracelet and mineral collection to the Foundation in 1928.[2]