Who was Mr. Lied?

If you live in Nebraska, you probably know the Lied name – it hangs on buildings all over the state, all over the university.

If you live in Nebraska, you probably know the Lied name – it hangs on buildings all over the state, all over the university.

You’ve probably benefited from the legacy of Ernst F. Lied.

The list of his gifts is long.

The Lied Jungle. The Lied Transplant Center. The Lied Humane Center. Lied Public Libraries in Randolph, Scottsbluff, Carroll, Imperial, Battle Creek and Winside. Buildings for art and art performance at Doane College and Wayne State …

If you live in Nevada or Iowa or Kansas, you’ve probably benefited, too. Those states are other key recipients of Mr. Lied’s money.

The first gift from the Lied Foundation Trust was UNL’s Lied Center for Performing Arts. The most recent gift is an addition to that building, the new Lied Commons, a multipurpose space on the north side of the Lied Center with a panoramic view of campus. Its ribbon-cutting ceremony was in October.

But what’s the story behind the man, who loved his parents and Nebraska and animals and had a bit of Howard Hughes in him? The visionary man who left all of his money for the public good?

What’s the story of his foundation, and the humble woman, Christina Hixson, the one he trusted more than anyone else to run the Lied Foundation Trust after his death?

There’s a room at the new Lied Commons that documents Mr. Lied’s life.