Frederic C. Hamilton became the $20 million man Wednesday, as Denver Art Museum officials announced that his contribution to a new wing will land his name on the building.

''Fred has always led by example,'' said DAM board vice chairman Charles Gallagher, in making the announcement during a morning dedication ceremony at the site where construction is to begin in July. Gallagher described it as ''the largest financial gift to an arts institution in the state of Colorado.''

''If you build a new building and don't build an endowment, you can't maintain it,'' said Hamilton, thanking the museum for the honor.

After the event, Hamilton said that his contribution came in the form of a five-year pledge, as have most contributions from the board. They are included in trustees' estate planning as well.

''You've got to lead,'' Hamilton said later. ''I told myself, 'You've got to get out there, Hamilton, and do something.' ''

Hamilton, a board member for more than 25 years, has been chairman of the board of trustees since 1994. A gallery in the existing museum building is named for him and his wife, Jane, and the Hamilton name also appears on facilities at the Newman Center and the Ritchie Center at the University of Denver.

In all, the museum board has contributed about $60 million in endowment to support the new Frederic C. Hamilton Building, which is being designed by Daniel Libeskind. City officials have told the board it must raise $50 million along with a $62.5 million bond issue approved by Denver voters in November 1999.

Still to be raised is about $8 million toward a $28 million capital campaign for landscaping, gallery installations and other amenities.

Since the museum has about $58.5 million from the bond issue to apply to museum construction, the $28 million campaign indicates a building costing about $86 millions.

''Nothing is more optimistic and more constructive than the act of building a building,'' said Libeskind, who launched into one of his patented machine-gun-speed descriptions of the city and its residents. He ended with ''What can I say?'' — to laughter and applause.

The dedication took on a festive air, with architect Libeskind signing autographs afterward.

In attendance were Denver City Council members, art museum staff, artists, architects and people active in the city's cultural community.

Also making an appearance was the city's planning director, Jennifer Moulton, who has been on leave undergoing treatment for the rare disease amyloidosis. Deeply involved in choosing an architect and in organizing the co-development, Moulton ''played such a central role'' in the process, said museum director Lewis Sharp, in her introduction.

Before the event, Moulton just said, ''I wouldn't miss this for the world.''

Sharp also thanked Mayor Wellington Webb, who supported the expansion by noting, ''Great cities are defined by the quality of their cultural institutions.''

And to the architect, selected in February to remake the World Trade Center site, Sharp said: ''Daniel, we're feeling very, very smart right now, and we're certainly feeling very, very proud right now.''

INFOBOX

It's a gift

Frederic C. Hamilton is making a $20 million gift to the Denver Art Museum. Other large donations to state arts and culture groups:

$7 million: The then-Denver Museum of Natural History received this gift in 1989 from the estate of theater magnate Frank Ricketson Jr.

$5 million: Developer Mike A. Leprino to the Space Odyssey exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in 2001.

$5 million: In 1997, U S West announces a gift to Colorado's Ocean Journey.

$1.5 million: In 1999, the U S West Foundation, the charitable arm of U S West, donated $1.5 million to the art museum to fund three exhibits.

$1.5 million: F.P. Spratlen III and his wife, Terry, contributed to Space Odyssey last year.

$1 million: In 2002, cable entrepreneur Glenn R. Jones makes the largest individual contribution in the history of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Mary Voelz Chandler is the art and architecture critic. (303) 892-2677 or chandlerm@RockyMountainNews.com

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