The Legacy of Maria Spears
Honoring a Visionary Trustee Upon her Departure from the Board
Maria Spears with NYSID President David Sprouls
NYSID alumna Maria Spears left the NYSID Board of Trustees at the end of 2022, after a six-year tenure, in order to focus on family and traveling the world with her beloved husband, William. From the time she joined the board in May 2016, Spears was a visionary and generous benefactor of the College. Says NYSID president David Sprouls, “If you know Maria, you understand that her energy, vibrance, and enthusiasm are infectious. She’s had a tremendous impact on NYSID’s students in more ways than one.”
Spears obtained her degree at NYSID during the 1970s. Her favorite course was on the history of design, taught by the late and legendary NYSID instructor William Breger. She fell in love with both Modernism and classical French and English design at NYSID. After graduating, she didn’t become an interior designer, but rather a top realtor who rose through the ranks of Brown, Harris, Stevens to become managing director and senior vice president. “My design background enabled me to tell clients what they could do to a property and how they could change things,” says Spears. “My knowledge of design made me a successful realtor.”
In 2016, at a dinner party, Spears sat next to a NYSID board member who suggested she re-engage with her alma mater, NYSID. At the time, Spears was serving on the board of the Nantucket Historical Association (NHA), helping them with their major fundraiser, Nantucket by Design. Spears met with Sprouls and decided to join the NYSID board. Once Spears joined, she developed and pitched a big idea about how to bring NYSID and the Nantucket Historical Society together. She proposed sending NYSID students to Nantucket by Design in the summer, and giving them a chance to design and decorate rooms in the Jethro Coffin House, the Oldest House on Sunset Hill in Nantucket. She saw it as a rare opportunity to allow students to learn about design history and preservation in context, as well as a chance for these budding designers to make real contacts in the industry.
Sharing the experience of something she loved with a new generation of designers motivated her. According to Spears, much of the board of the NHA was resistant to allowing students to design the interior of The Oldest House at first, but she was insistent and convincing, and the collaboration was ultimately a huge success. “The board of the NHA was blown away by the students’ work,” she remembers. Says Sprouls, “Maria forged a whole new direction in experiential learning for our students. Until that point, our students hadn’t done any showhouses, let alone a showhouse on an island two hundred miles from New York City! Through Maria’s support and generosity, we got it off the ground. Now Nantucket by Design is an ongoing opportunity for our students, and we are also getting our students into other showhouse events, such as Design on a Dime and Rooms with a View.”
In her years as a trustee, Spears introduced two other current board members, Kelly Williams and Susan Zises Green to the NYSID Board. She and her husband, William Spears, gave to Nantucket by Design, Dialogues on Design, and other programs at the College, but it was their continuous support of the scholarship fund through the Gala that was truly extraordinary. The Spears have made it possible for many talented students—past, present, and future—to come to NYSID and complete their interior design degrees, without amassing crippling debt. “The reason to give money is to help other people succeed,” says Maria Spears. “My husband is the love of my life, and we make these decisions about giving together. I’ve always felt confident in giving to NYSID because David Sprouls is a great leader, Ellen Fisher is a wonderful dean, and (Development Director) Joy Cooper is one of the hardest working people I know.”
For the young people who are finishing their degrees or entering their careers because of the support she and William Spears provided, Maria Spears has this wisdom: “Be happy to be alive and don’t be afraid of problems. Keep doing. If you expect positive things to happen and help the people who need your help, good things will come back to you.”