This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Margaret Alkek Williams chats with Bill Stubbs, left, and Jay Jones during an event in her honor at the Houston Ballet on Monday, May 9, 2022. Williams is donating $10 million to the ballet.

Margaret Alkek Williams chats with Joanne Herring during cocktail hour before a dinner in her honor at the Houston Ballet on Monday, May 9, 2022. Williams is donating $10million to the ballet,

Portrait of Margaret Alkek Williams in her home on Thursday, April 28, 2022 in Houston. Margaret Alkek Williams will make a major contribution to Houston Ballet.

Portrait of Margaret Alkek Williams in her home on Thursday, April 28, 2022 in Houston. Margaret Alkek Williams will make a major contribution to Houston Ballet.

Margaret Alkek Williams greets guests during an event in her honor at the Houston Ballet on Monday, May 9, 2022. Williams is donating $10million to the ballet,

Portrait of Margaret Alkek Williams in her home on Thursday, April 28, 2022 in Houston. Margaret Alkek Williams will make a major contribution to Houston Ballet.

Margaret Alkek Williams greets guests during an event in her honor at the Houston Ballet on Monday, May 9, 2022. Williams is donating $10 million to the ballet.

Margaret Alkek Williams chats with Jay Jones during an event in her honor at the Houston Ballet on Monday, May 9, 2022. Williams is donating $10 million to the ballet.

Margaret Alkek Williams rehearses with Houston Ballet executive director Jim Nelson at the Houston Ballet on Monday, May 9, 2022. Williams is donating $10 million to the ballet.

The daughter of an oilman, Margaret Alkek Williams’ love for the performing arts began early, with piano lessons at age 4 and her first theatrical role, as Snow White, at age 5. She sang in the chorus for several Houston Grand Opera productions, and like many young women, she donned pink slippers to practice her pliés at the ballet barre.

Ballet, Williams says, is the most beautiful art form.

On Monday, Houston Ballet announced Williams’ $10 million gift to the professional dance company’s endowment fund. The Center for Dance building will be renamed in her honor.

“It’s our largest gift from an individual — the largest we’ve ever received,” chief development officer Angela Lane said. “A gift of $10 million is substantial. It increases the value of our endowment, maintains our building and helps fulfill our mission to inspire a lifelong love of dance.”

Margaret Alkek Williams chats with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner during an event in her honor at the Houston Ballet on Monday, May 9, 2022. Williams is donating $10 million to the ballet.

Williams, 87, previously had made sizable contributions to Houston Ballet. During the company’s $50 million Dance with Us! campaign in 2008, her $5 million lead gift helped establish the Center for Dance. Today, the building houses administrative offices and rehearsal studios and is the primary home of Houston Ballet Academy.

Executive director Jim Nelson announced Williams’ latest gift to the Houston Ballet board on Monday evening in the Margaret Alkek Williams Dance Lab, a black box theater that hosts special events and public rehearsals; the building it’s housed in will now be known as the Margaret Alkek Williams Center for Dance.

At 115,000-square-feet, the six-story structure designed by architecture firm Gensler is the largest dance facility of its kind in the U.S.

“Not only is it the largest in North America, it’s also the finest,” Lane said. “The facilities are second to none. Mrs. Williams’ astounding generosity enables Houston Ballet to flourish for generations to come and ensure students will be able to pursue dance education.”

Houston Ballet’s Education and Community Engagement Program reaches more than 60,000 residents annually, many of whom are children. The Margaret Alkek Williams Dance Lab provides a venue for students to have free educational experiences.

It’s a special space because of its flexibility, Lane said. The room features the proper flooring for dancers to wow a small crowd, typically schools, with 45-minute performances and interact with the community.

“Many times it is that child’s first introduction to ballet,” Williams said of the free or low-cost classes offered. “I’m proud and excited that my name will be forever associated with such an important building.”

Portrait of Margaret Alkek Williams in her home on Thursday, April 28, 2022 in Houston. Margaret Alkek Williams will make a major contribution to Houston Ballet.

She credits her parents, Margaret and Albert Alkek, the son of Lebanese immigrants who moved to Houston in 1909, with instilling in her the power of giving. In 1948, Alkek joined Harry Sinclair in the Sinclair-Alkek Oil Co., which built and operated the first petroleum products pipeline in Texas. Alkek bought out his partner and continued the venture as Alkek Oil Co., which at one time was the largest independent gasoline supplier in Texas. The Alkeks gave $25 million to Baylor College of Medicine in 1988, the largest single-donor contribution ever made to a Texas Medical Center institution at the time. Five years later the couple set another record by committing $30 million to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Williams has kept the family tradition going with milestone gifts of her own — most with a performing arts spin. Her $4 million donation to HGO in 2011 from the Alkek and Williams Foundation created the Margaret Alkek Williams General Director Chair Fund, a position currently held by Khori Dastoor. A $5 million gift committed to Houston Symphony in 2015 created the Margaret Alkek Williams executive director/CEO chair; John Mangum currently fills that role. The following year she established the Margaret Alkek Williams Center for Performing Arts Medicine, which enables more than 100 live performances for Houston Methodist hospital patients each year.

At Houston Ballet, artistic director Stanton Welch calls Williams a “prima philanthropist.” The pair have stepped in sync for nearly a decade. When he joined the company in 2003, she joined the board of trustees’ executive committee; her first act of business was underwriting his inaugural full-length, classical ballet and introduction to Houston audiences, “Swan Lake.”

Welch honored Williams in 2016 during the first-ever Jubilee of Dance, a gala dinner he created to showcase upcoming work, world premieres and the full breadth of company talent. The following year she endowed the performance in perpetuity, and it was renamed the Margaret Alkek Williams Jubilee of Dance.

“Through the decades she’s brought important relationships to the ballet,” Nelson said. “She’s one of our strongest advocates.”

Margaret Alkek Williams poses for a photo with Jim Nelson, executive director of the Houston Ballet, before a dinner in her honor at the Houston Ballet on Monday, May 9, 2022. Williams is donating $10 million to the ballet.

Williams often hosts small groups of philanthropic women for intimate dinners before Houston Ballet performances. They are treated to three-course meals and champagne in the Green Room at Wortham Center ahead of opening nights or world premieres.

“Sharing with my friends, that’s important to me,” she said of those coveted invitations.

On Monday night, inside the Houston Ballet Center for Dance and Dance Lab that both now bear her name, those friends raised a glass in Williams’ honor.

- A Houston love story: When the mayor’s daughter met a Captain

- Some of the best bands skip Houston for Dallas and Austin. Here's why.

- When is the best time to see bluebonnets and wildflowers?

- The Chronicle reveals featured designer for 40th anniversary Best Dressed Luncheon

- Medical breakthroughs can change your life, here are 10 treatments

Amber Elliott covers arts and society for the Houston Chronicle.

For the last 2½ years, a Dallas couple has battled the fraudulent credit card charges that upended their lives and clouded their financial future.