Monday, Apr. 6 2009 @ 2:36PM
Frank Goodyear, the director of the
Heard Museum for the last 10 years, will retire at the end of the year.
Goodyear's tenure coincided with a period of expansion and growth at the Valley's best-known museum, and he was appreciated for his fundraising skills. According to the news release below, Goodyear was responsible over the years for scrounging up a total of $44 million for the museum.
His efforts to improve the museum still show. Read this 2006 New Times story to get psyched up for your next visit.
Text of Heard's news release follows:
HEARD MUSEUM DIRECTOR ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT
Frank Goodyear to Retire After 10 Years; Search for Successor Begins
PHOENIX, Ariz. - Just months after his 65th birthday, Heard Museum Director Frank H. Goodyear, Jr. announced to the Board of Trustees and museum staff that he will be retiring from his position at the end of the year. The announcement caps Goodyear's 40-year career in the museum field. A national search for the Heard Museum's next director already has begun.
"I have been extraordinarily privileged to serve as the director of the Heard Museum over then last 9-and-a-half years," said Goodyear, who plans to live part of the year in the Valley and part of the year at his ranch in Cody, Wyo. "The Heard is a unique cultural landmark in the American Southwest. Great institutions are defined by great ideas and great people. The Heard is blessed with both. I leave with a large sense of pride and appreciation for the work of the Trustees, volunteers and staff. They turned the dreams of the last decade into a reality."