The Mastermind

Opening the Getty Center is an auspicious event for everyone from the scholars who will use its resources to members of the public impatiently awaiting their first visit. But no one is more attuned to the new cultural complex than Harold M. Williams, who has been president and chief operating officer of the J. Paul Getty Trust since 1981, and who is scheduled to retire on Jan. 5, his 70th birthday. Williams came to the Getty the year before the trust received its endowment of $1.2 billion, which he has watched grow to $4.5 billion; during that time he has overseen the birth and development of the trust’s programs and its grand new home on the Brentwood hill.

Williams’ journey began with a startling phone call almost 17 years ago, when he was head of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Jimmy Carter administration. Ronald Reagan had just been elected president, so Williams knew he would soon be out of a job. “I was in negotiation with a New York law firm to open a Washington office when I got a call from Harold Berg, who was chairman of the Getty board,” Williams recalls. “It didn’t take long for me to recognize what an exciting situation this was.”

Getty’s estate was still in probate, but the trustees were discussing what to do with the anticipated fortune. “They were considering broadening out and becoming something more than a museum, something in the humanistic area,” Williams says. “That’s what I sparked to.”

A UCLA and Harvard Law School-educated tax attorney, Williams had worked for Norton Simon’s corporate empire for 15 years, from 1955-1970, rising to the presidency of Hunt Foods and Industries Inc. and chairing the board of Norton Simon Inc. The professional association coincided with Simon’s evolution as one of the world’s leading art collectors, giving Williams some insight into the art world. But in 1970, Williams moved into academia, serving as dean of UCLA’s Graduate School of Management until 1977, and then into government.

Williams liked Washington and thought he would stay. But the Getty query made him think again. “This was an opportunity to create something beyond the museum,” he says. “As I told my colleagues early on, ‘We have the potential to be something truly unique because Mr. Getty’s mandate is broad, the board is open-minded, we don’t have to be populist like a government agency does, we can think long-term and internationally, and make commitments and take risks. And beyond his mandate, we don’t even have to satisfy Mr. Getty, because he has passed away.’ Putting all that together with a significant amount of money presented an unusual opportunity.”

He spent a couple of months visiting museums, research centers and universities to get acquainted and bring himself up to speed on current philosophy and practices. Then he hired two arts administrators as consultants: Nancy Englander, the former director of New Hampshire’s McDowell Colony for artists, writers and musicians, whom he later married, and Leilani Lattin Duke, the former executive director of the California Confederation of the Arts, who became director of the Getty Education Institute. The threesome traveled widely in the United States and Western Europe, asking questions and doing a lot of listening.

In May 1982, the trustees accepted Williams’ proposal for the formation of institutes of art education, conservation, research and information. The grant program and the Leadership Institute for Museum Management, which sponsors training courses at UC Berkeley, were established later.

The possibility of housing all trust enterprises on the Malibu museum’s grounds was rejected because new construction would have destroyed the ambience, Williams says. After drawing a map of every available parcel of property from downtown west, Getty officials considered the Ambassador Hotel, the area of Playa del Rey that’s now being developed as Playa Vista, and Veterans Administration land in Westwood, which the Reagan administration was thinking of selling.

“Then we looked at this site, and that’s where the search ended,” Williams says. “It was such an amazing piece of property with so much potential.”

Once the institutes were up and running, Williams’ challenge was to balance their needs with those of the museum. It hasn’t been easy. “Without exception, the directors can make a very convincing case for how they could use a lot more money very effectively,” he says.

Williams takes enormous pride in what’s been accomplished so far. “We started with money and that’s about it,” he says. “We didn’t have a reputation, so there was a lot of distrust about what we were going to do with it. Seeing the institutes grow into positions of trust and leadership is really very gratifying. We have accomplished more than I ever had any reason to expect, in part because the endowment has grown significantly. And the Getty Center is every bit of what I hoped, and even more beautiful.”

“This is not an easy place to leave,” he says, “but it’s the right time. Opening the Getty Center is the completion of the vision. The next phase will be enhancing interaction among the programs without homogenizing them. That will take consistent leadership for a period of time, and that’s more than I’m prepared to give.” His successor is Barry Munitz, chancellor of the California State University system.

Williams is not going out to pasture but has no definite plans. “I’ve seen too many of my peers overloaded with things they really don’t care that much about,” he says. “I’m going the other way: cold turkey. I’ll build up from there. I care passionately about education, arts and culture and Los Angeles, so I’m sure my involvement will be somewhere in that area.”