16 Facts About Thomas Hoving

Thomas Pearsall Field Hoving was an American museum executive and consultant and the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Thomas Hoving went to work for the Met in 1959, serving on the staff of the medieval department at The Cloisters until 1965, when he became curator of the department.

Thomas Hoving left the Met in 1966 to become New York mayor John V Lindsay's parks commissioner, but in 1967 returned to the Met as director after the incumbent, James J Rorimer, died suddenly on May 11,1966.

Thomas Hoving assumed the directorship on March 17,1967, and presided over a massive expansion and renovation of the museum, adding many important collections to its holdings.

The expansion of the Met during Thomas Hoving's directorship was not confined to its collections.

Thomas Hoving spearheaded a number of building projects and renovations of the Met itself, from a controversial expansion of its galleries into Central Park to the construction of its underground parking garage.

In July 1976, Thomas Hoving visited Egypt to negotiate terms of the traveling exhibition and finalize details of the Museum's collaboration with officials there.

Thomas Hoving was the director of the controversial "Harlem On My Mind" exhibit, curated by Allon Schoener, which garnered significant protests from local activists and artists for its exclusion of black artists, as well as for the inclusion of an anti-Semitic essay in the catalogue.

Thomas Hoving apologized and included disclaimers before the essay in the catalogue, but did not remove it.

Thomas Hoving left the Met on June 30,1977, to start an independent consulting firm for museums, Hoving Associates.

Thomas Hoving's debut in its second-ever installment on June 13,1978 was a feature about the making of Jaws 2.

Thomas Hoving edited Connoisseur Magazine from 1981 to 1991; along with his memoirs of his time at the Met, he is the author of books on a number of art-related subjects, including art forgeries, Grant Wood, Andrew Wyeth, Tutankhamen, and the 12th-century walrus ivory crucifix known as the Bury St Edmunds Cross.

In 1953, Thomas Hoving was married to Nancy Bell, a Vassar College graduate whom he met at a house party in Princeton.

Thomas Hoving was the daughter of Elliott V Bell, a writer for The New York Times who managed the two successful gubernatorial campaigns for his friend, Thomas E Dewey.

Thomas Hoving died of lung cancer at his home in Manhattan, New York City, on December 10,2009.

Thomas Hoving was the subject of the titular profile in A Roomful of Hovings and Other Profiles, a 1969 collection of biographical pieces by John McPhee.