Mellon, Paul (1907–1999)

US art collector and philanthropist. He presided over his father's Washington art collection (1937–39) and served in the cavalry during World War II. As chairman of two foundations, set up to dispense the family fortune, he made generous gifts to several universities, also serving as president of the National Gallery of Art (1963–79). He gave Yale University his $35 million collection of British and French art in 1966, with additional funding to build and maintain an art study complex.

The son of US financier and art collector Andrew Mellon, he was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A 1929 graduate of Yale University, he also studied English literature at Cambridge University, England, where he began collecting art. He was a noted horseman; horses from his stables have won many of the world's major races.