Donor Biography

LaRae King was raised on a cattle ranch in rural Southern Utah. She escaped to the slick rock around her home from the time she was a little girl. She loved to paint the cows and the cliffs. She married and moved to other parts of Utah, Nevada and California. She was committed to the arts throughout her life, always finding time to create art while being successful in her many other roles of business woman, student, curator, mother and grandmother.

After helping her daughters through college and her own success as a business woman, she embarked on her own pursuit of a college degree. She received her BA in Art in 1984 and was hired after graduation as the Director at SUU's Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery. She curated a variety of remarkable exhibitions and encouraged the creativity of students of all ages through all means of support.

She worked in this position until her untimely death from cancer in 1988. She was always very committed to the visual arts, artists and education in southern Utah as an artist, patron, mentor and educator. LaRae continues to inspire many friends and family members to find their own creativity and give it expression from the example she set.

LaRae's daughters Colette Cox and Cheryl Cox established and endowed scholarship in their mother's name after her death.

Scholarship Criteria

Is awarded to outstanding students from the Department of Art.

Performing and Visual Arts

Art and Design

Varied Dollars/yr