Framed photograph of Stephen Hawking philanthropist Dennis Avery, outside, colour photograph

Denis Avery was a crucial supporter of Stephen Hawking and his department at Cambridge University. He died in 2012, and Stephen kept three freamed photographs illustrating their long relationship in his office.

Dennis first met Stephen Hawking when they both attended an event held at the White House in March 1998 and they became close friends. Dennis had first heard of Stephen from his father, Stanton Avery, who was Chair of the Board of Directors at the California Institute of Technology, where Stephen often visited.

Dennis and Sally's significant support for Stephen and the University of Cambridge led to the foundation of the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology. They were awarded the Chancellor's 800th Anniversary Medal for Outstanding Philanthropy by the University at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. They represented the Vice-Chancellor at the installation of Elsa Murano as President of Texas A&M University in 2008. Dennis and Sally were Stephen's honoured guests when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2009.

More on Avery and his contributions to Hawking's department can be found in the obituary by the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, from which the above text was excerpted: https://www.ctc.cam.ac.uk/news/120809_newsitem.php

One of the most frequent items on the walls of Stephen Hawking's office are photographs of individuals, most often original prints. A good portion of these are individual portraits of his scientific heroes; he did not have individual photos of his closest mentors or collaborators, as those appear in several group photos taken during academic conferences. A few of the photos, whose selection may have been haphazard, point to the everyday fun of working with colleagues. Another subset of photographs, all dating after the 1987 publication of A Brief History of time, relate to Stephen's contact with celebrities and politicans, or media appearances. A few of the photographs relate to people with whom Stephen shared specific causes. Finally, also present in his office are photographs of some of of the sponsors of the scientific activities of Stephen and his academic department.

Stephen also had multiple photograph of his family, but they were not included in the office acquisition.