James N. Wood, J. Paul Getty Trust chief, dies at 69

(6-17-10) James N. Wood, the J. Paul Getty Trust President and Chief Executive, was found dead of natural causes in his Los Angeles home last Friday. Wood, who is credited with increasing the trust's stability and credibility in the art world after taking the helm in early 2007, was an art historian with nearly 30-years experience in curatorial and executive positions at prominent art institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum, the St. Louis Art Museum, and, from 1980-2004, the Art Institute of Chicago. James Cuno, current head of the Art Institute, said of his successor: "Every junior museum director, including myself, looked up to him as an example of a museum director with a clear moral bearing and sense of regard for what was most important—that this was all done on behalf of the public and in the public's trust."

Read the Los Angeles Times obituary here.