COURTESY GETTY TRUST
Deborah Marrow, the director of the Getty Foundation—the branch of the deep-pocketed J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles focused on philanthropic efforts in the arts—is planning to retire. The trust made the announcement today, saying that Marrow will step down at the end of the year but officially retire in 2020, after taking a sabbatical year. Upon her retirement, she will become director emerita of the foundation.
“No one has contributed more to the life and mission of the Getty than Deborah,” James Cuno, the president and CEO of the trust, said in a statement. “She has provided inspiring leadership in almost every aspect of the Getty, in roles including as director of the Getty Foundation, acting director of the Getty Research Institute and as interim president of the Getty Trust. She brought clarity and vision and selfless dedication to her work, and made loyal professional friends around the world.”
Marrow’s tenure at the Getty began more than 30 years ago, in 1983, when she was hired as publications coordinator. In 1989, she took up a form of her current job, serving as director of what was at the time titled the Getty Grant Program, according to a news release. She assumed her current title in 2004, when the Getty Foundation was christened.
The projects funded by the Getty Foundation are vast, ranging from conservation and academic efforts to the Pacific Standard Time initiative—which, across three editions, starting in 2011, has supported research and exhibitions on art and architecture in Southern California as well as the work of Latin American and Latinx artists—and a Multicultural Undergraduate Internship program, which has supported internships at more than 150 arts groups over the past quarter-century.
“It has been an honor and privilege, to work with so many global arts organizations and people around the world, and to witness the contributions of our grantees in advancing the international understanding of the visual arts,” Marrow said in a statement. “It will be very hard to leave the Getty, but it has been gratifying to work with the many talented colleagues at all the Getty programs. Together we have accomplished so much.”