News Release - Huntington Announces Retirement of Loren Rothschild, Expansion of Board of Trustees

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens today announced a pair of developments regarding its Board of Trustees: Loren Rothschild, serving as a member since 2009 and as chair since 2017, will retire to become Trustee Emeritus

SAN MARINO, Calif.—The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens today announced a pair of developments regarding its Board of Trustees: Loren Rothschild, serving as a member since 2009 and as chair since 2017, will retire to become Trustee Emeritus at the end of June. Additionally, in a historic move, the board itself will expand from five to seven members, reflecting the institution’s growth and increasing complexity since it was founded in 1919. The Board of Trustees holds the fiduciary responsibility for The Huntington and serves in a final decision-making capacity. It is supported by a 63-member Board of Governors.

“Loren’s commitment to this remarkable institution has allowed it to flourish during his time as Trustee and Chair of the Board,” said Karen Lawrence, Huntington President. “Loren is a bibliophile who has championed the entire institution every step of the way, and he has done it with judgment and wit.” Before becoming a Trustee, Rothschild served for 18 years on the Board of Governors.

Since it was founded more than a century ago with a five-member board, the institution that was once the private estate of Henry E. and Arabella D. Huntington—with a strong core collection of rare books, manuscripts, and European art—has grown exponentially. The Huntington now holds 11 million items in its Library, tens of thousands of works of art in its European and American art collections, and includes more than a dozen principal gardens occupying 130 acres. In addition, the institution has greatly expanded its research, education, and visitor programs as well as its slate of changing exhibitions each year. Annual visitors to the gardens and galleries have grown to about 800,000 in a normal year, while the research program hosts some 1,700 research scholars. During the course of this institutional growth, the scope of the Board of Trustees’ duties and responsibilities has increased accordingly. The addition of two seats also provides a crucial opportunity to bring more voices, diverse backgrounds, and points of view to the board as it works with the leadership and staff to advance The Huntington’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Plan, a high-priority for The Huntington.

The Huntington’s petition to expand the Board of Trustees from five to seven members was approved by the L.A. Superior Court in the spring; it will be implemented with the start of The Huntington’s new fiscal year on July 1, 2021.

Loren Rothschild
Loren Rothschild is president of Sycamore Hill Capital Group LLC, a private investment firm with locations in San Francisco and Los Angeles. His wife, Frances, is presiding justice on the California Second District Court of Appeal. He and his wife gave The Huntington a major work of art in 2006: Blinking Sam, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, the famous 1775 portrait of Samuel Johnson that now hangs in the Huntington Art Gallery. It is his interest in books and book collecting, however, that has fueled Rothschild’s passion for the institution. He long has been a collector and scholar of the works of Samuel Johnson, W. Somerset Maugham, and Sir Richard Burton, and he currently is writing a catalog to accompany his Johnson collection.

Born in 1938, Rothschild attended the University of California, Berkeley, from 1956 to 1958 and then transferred to UCLA, where he received a Bachelor of Arts with highest honors. He received his law degree from Harvard University in 1963. Rothschild served as a law clerk to Justic Mathew Tobriner of the California Supreme Court and was a partner in the law firm Fogel, Reinhardt, Rothschild, and Feldman. From 1985 to 1992, he served as the president of American Protection Industries, a California company that owned several businesses, including the Franklin Mint, Teleflora, and Paramount Agribusiness.

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Contacts
Susan Turner-Lowe, 626-405-2147, sturner@huntington.org
Thea M. Page, 626-405-2260, tpage@huntington.org

About The Huntington
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, a collections-based research and educational institution, aspires to be a welcoming place of engagement and reflection for a diverse community. The Huntington is located at 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, Calif., 12 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Visitor information: huntington.org or 626-405-2100. (Check huntington.org for updates during this period for new visitation protocols due to COVID-19.)