Adair Margo was born in 1954, a third-generation El Pasoan. She attended Vanderbilt University, earning a BA in art history and studying with Syracuse University in Florence, Italy. She earned her MA in art history from New Mexico State University before opening Adair Margo Gallery in 1985. For twenty-five years she exhibited over four hundred artists from twelve countries, becoming especially devoted to Tom Lea and founding the Tom Lea Institute in 2009. She was chairman of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities during the two-term presidency of George W. Bush and was appointed by Secretary of State Colin Powell to the US National Commission for UNESCO. She received the US Presidential Citizens Medal and the Mexican Aguila Azteca for her work in cultural diplomacy. She has authored or contributed to seven books, including Tom Lea, An Oral History (1995) and Jose Cisneros, Immigrant Artist (2006), published by Texas Western Press. She is currently First Lady of El Paso.