The Joseph and Jovita Trani Family of Rancho Palos Verdes, California, made a gift to the IAMLA and has joined the Museum's elite cadre of donors known as the Founding Families. The IAMLA’s Founding Family designation was created as a way to recognize individuals and families whose dedication, generosity, and achievements qualify them for distinction.

Giorgio D’Ambrosi was only a baby when his mother, Giacinta, died. Although the D’Ambrosi family, and particularly Giorgio and his sister, Rosa, mourned the loss of its matriarch, the premature death of a young woman such as Giacinta, who was only in her twenties, was by no means a strange occurrence at the time. In regions of Italy such as Lazio, where the D’Ambrosi family lived, malaria, cholera, and other diseases made the life expectancy for the average Lazian a dismal 22.5 years.