Donohoe to replace Caldwell as Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts chairman

Donald R. Caldwell, chairman of the board of trustees of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts since 1996, is stepping down and will be replaced by Kevin F. Donohoe, currently vice chair and treasurer, the academy announced Wednesday.

Caldwell, 65, who steered the institution through expansion of its academic programs and campus at Broad and Cherry Streets, as well as through the massive public campaign to acquire Thomas Eakins' The Gross Clinic in 2006, will remain on the board as chairman emeritus.

Donohoe, 60, a developer who has been on the academy board for 20 years, will assume the chairmanship July 1.

He characterized Caldwell's term as "a compelling chapter in PAFA's history."

"Following in his footsteps is a tremendous inspiration," Donohoe said in a statement.

A veteran of the board's finance and building and facilities committees, Donohoe oversaw renovation of the academy's Hamilton Building and helped achieve seven consecutive balanced budgets and full staffing, even through the current recession.

Donohoe also once headed a partnership that owned the Curtis Center on Washington Square, home of the Louis Tiffany-Maxfield Parrish Dream Garden, a unique glass mosaic mural now in the academy's possession.

In 1998, the former owner of the mural, an estate, sought to remove and sell it, leading to public outcry, litigation, and, ultimately, a successful offer from the Pew Charitable Trusts to buy out the estate and donate the work to the academy.

Caldwell, founder and chairman of Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, a venture capital firm, led the academy's $35 million building and renovation campaign, highlighted by renovation of the Hamilton Building.

He said his involvement with the academy "has enriched my life in every aspect."

Perhaps most memorably, he led the academy's efforts in 2006 to team up with the Philadelphia Museum of Art to raise $68 million for the purchase of Eakins' Gross Clinic.

Thomas Jefferson University planned to sell the painting to a partnership of the National Gallery and a museum in Arkansas founded by Alice Walton, a Wal-Mart heiress.

The academy and Art Museum received thousands of donations during the highly publicized campaign, ultimately acquiring the painting - though both subsequently sold other Eakins works in their collections to pay off loans, prompting criticism.