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James N. Wood, President of the Getty Trust, Dies at 69

James N. Wood, who was the director of the Art Institute of Chicago for 25 years and took over as president and chief executive of the Getty Trust in Los Angeles in 2006, helping to steer it through a turbulent period, died Friday at his home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 69 and also had a home in Bristol, R.I.

Mr. Wood died of natural causes, the trust said, but no cause of death was announced.

In his years at the Chicago institute, Mr. Wood became one of the most respected museum leaders in the country, overseeing an expansion of its world-class collection, renovations of all its departments, the construction of a new wing and the initial planning for a second addition.

He also helped conceive well-regarded exhibitions — a Monet retrospective in 1995 and a van Gogh and Gauguin show in 2001 — that broke attendance records for the museum....
Read entire article at NYT