Benefactor of O.C. Arts Groups Dies : Obituary: Barbara Steele Williams of Laguna gave millions to cultural and social institutions.

Barbara Steele Williams, a philanthropist who donated millions of dollars to Orange County arts and social organizations, died Sunday of heart failure at her home in Three Arch Bay. She was 80.

The daughter of businessman Harry Steele and his wife, Grace, whose children established a philanthropic foundation in their name 42 years ago, Williams helped many of this city’s most prominent cultural institutions, including the Laguna Art Museum and the Laguna Playhouse’s Moulton Theater, one of the most famous privately funded theaters in the country.

With foundation and personal funds, Williams provided aid to a number of Orange County organizations. One of the more recent endowments was a $1-million grant to the art museum, which prompted officials to honor the Steele Foundation trustee at the museum’s 75th anniversary in 1993.

The foundation also awarded grants totaling about $6 million to the Orange County Performing Arts Center and $1.1 million to Newport Harbor Art Museum in recent years.

“She’s always been a generous person, especially when it comes to the arts,” said Constance Morthland, Williams’ friend of 40 years.

A graduate of Mills College in Oakland, Williams was a longtime supporter of small private colleges and other educational institutions. One of the family’s first major financial contributions was a $5-million grant to the Claremont Colleges in 1955, Morthland said.

But Williams considered donations to large projects no more important than the small amounts she gave to veterans’ groups and civic projects, family members said.

Born in Pittsburgh, Williams was one of six children. In 1973 she married Nick B. Williams, editor of The Times from 1958 to 1971, who died in 1992.

After college, she ran a children’s theater in Pasadena, where she lived for more than 30 years before moving to Laguna Beach.

She is survived by two daughters, Susan Busby Bartlett of South Laguna and Barbara Cecilia Busby of Dana Point; a son, James Steele Busby of Newport Beach; a sister, Mrs. Audrey Burnand of Newport Beach; a brother, Richard Steele of Newport Beach, 11 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to a charity of choice. Plans for a memorial service are pending.