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Staff Writer

Peter and Paula Lunder, who made headlines this week with their donation of American art masterpieces valued at more than $100 million to Colby College, are fiercely private people but widely known in the art world for their collecting and philanthropy.

The couple, who own homes in Scarborough and Waterville, have agreed to give the Colby College Museum of Art more than 500 paintings, sculptures and prints. They are longtime supporters of the private college in Waterville.

Peter Lunder graduated from Colby in 1956, and both he and his wife have remained active at the school in a variety of roles.

They've also supported the Portland Museum of Art and other art and academic institutions, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where Peter Lunder serves as vice chairman of the Smithsonian's national board, and Maine College of Art, where Paula Lunder serves as a trustee.

John Wilmerding, a leading art scholar, collector and part-time Maine resident, said it was in character for the Lunders to target a Maine institution as the recipient of such a significant gift.

The collection, with paintings by John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, Georgia O'Keeffe and many other 19th- and 20th-century masters, is remarkable for its quality and depth, and instantly gives Colby a competitive advantage over other college museums in New England and throughout the country, he said.

"Their collection would have been welcome at a number of places, but the magnitude of it will make more of a difference at Colby than at many other places that are either larger or in bigger cities. Good for them for thinking it out," said Wilmerding, who teaches at Princeton University.

"In that sense, they are smart people who have put their collection in a place where it can make the greatest difference."

Peter Lunder is a descendent of shoemakers. His uncle is Harold Alfond of Dexter Shoe Co. fame. Lunder joined the company in 1958 and became president before retiring in the '90s.

Sharon Corwin, director of the Colby museum, said the Lunder gift follows a long tradition of individual support for the college museum. The museum has built its collection of about 6,000 pieces with donations from generations of friends within the Colby community. The museum's founding collection, the Jette Collection of American Art, came from an individual family, as have most museum gifts since its founding in 1959, Corwin said.

"The Lunder collection is a continuation of that type of generosity, all from people with deep ties to Waterville and the state of Maine," she said.

Corwin has known the Lunders since she joined the museum as curator in 2003. "They are art lovers through and through, and I find their love for art infectious. They are just lovely people in that sense," she said.

Daniel E. O'Leary, director of the Portland Museum of Art, also considers himself a friend of the Lunders. They have supported the Portland museum since 1987 and been members of the Committee of 100, the museum's highest level of membership; and the Friends of the Collection, a group that supports the acquisition of art.

They've contributed to the museum's fundraising campaigns and supported the museum's education programs, O'Leary said.

"Both are among the most astute and knowledgeable collectors in the country," O'Leary said, adding that he has known for many years that Portland likely would not be the recipient of the Lunders' art collection, because of the couple's commitment to Colby.

Nonetheless, that has not kept them from supporting the Portland museum in other ways, he said.

"People in the art community have always known and respected the Lunders' tremendous dedication to Colby College. He is an alumnus par excellence, and they have always made that very clear to us," O'Leary said.

Further, O'Leary said, while the gift benefits Colby and Waterville directly, the state as a whole will feel the impact.

"It's...