The longtime Jewish community stalwart resigned his post Tuesday in front of the museum’s board of trustees, but he will remain active with the museum.
Lurie, who turns 58 on Monday, was hired as the museum’s chief executive officer and president Sept. 1, 1996. Seven months ago, he relinquished the CEO position to Connie Wolf, a museum professional from New York whom he was responsible for hiring.
“She was named CEO in January, but the truth is she became CEO a year and a half ago. She runs the place,” said Lurie, whose has systematically been phasing himself out for the past two years.
In fact, after serving as the head of the United Jewish Appeal in New York from 1991 to 1996, Lurie somewhat reluctantly became the museum’s boss in 1996, when it was in early stages of planning a new, $60 million facility.
“After UJA, I said I never wanted to run another Jewish institution again,” said Lurie, who also directed the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation for 17 years starting in 1974. (After a merger, UJA was absorbed by United Jewish Communities.)
“I did it for 2-1/2 years at the museum because…I came into a situation that needed a lot of changing.”
Ron Kaufman, a museum trustee, praised Lurie as “a really great person in the Jewish world who jump-started” the museum. Plans call for a grand, new building to open in 2003 near Third and Mission streets in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena arts district.
“He’s a visionary,” Kaufman added. “He was able to secure a world-class architect [Daniel Libeskind], a world-class development company [Millennium Partners] and he recruited a museum professional [Wolf] who will take us forward.”
For the past 1-1/2 years, Lurie concentrated most of his energy on the museum’s $60 million capital campaign.
He so far has helped secure $35 million from major donors, and he said another $15 million to $40 million “is in the pipeline.”
He will — on a volunteer basis — continue to court those donors and try to raise $40 million for an endowment fund.
“The practical consequences to the museum of [my resignation] are zero,” Lurie said. “I won’t be doing anything different as a volunteer than what I was doing as a paid staff member.”
One thing, of course, will be different: He will no longer draw a paycheck. But he’ll still go to lots of meetings and is expected to join the board of trustees with a yet-to-be-determined designation.
“I’m still going to be very involved in what happens here,” Lurie said Monday from his office.
He also plans to spend more time with his wife, Caroline, and family in Ross. He has four children who range in age from 13 to 23, two of whom still live at home.
Although Lurie said he has plans for his future, he was reluctant to disclose them, other than “what I want to do is teach and write.” Asked if a book is in the offing, Lurie, who was assistant rabbi at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco from 1969 to 1972, replied flatly, “I’ll start with articles.”
Lurie will continue participating in the 45-member Israel-American Forum, a high-powered think tank that includes such heavyweights as Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg.
Also, Lurie is working on a project in Israel. “I’ve got tons of stuff coming up,” he pointed out, adding that he’ll also look into sitting on some boards of directors.
“All that I am retiring from is that I will not take a paid leadership position in Jewish communal life again,” he stressed.
Although the new museum is about a year behind schedule in its bid to morph from a community-based institution into a huge museum of international scope, Lurie cannot be blamed, insisted one trustee.
“In the development business, there are more bumps than you’d get in a washboard,” Kaufman said.
Asked if he resigned in order to disassociate his name from the museum — because of clashing ideologies or perhaps as a safeguard in case the project bogs down or fails — Lurie shot back, “Not true. I firmly believe in this place. Why would I want to disassociate myself from it? I totally believe in it.”
“He’s done an outstanding job,” said Marilyn Waldman, a museum trustee. When listing Lurie’s many accomplishments, she began by saying, “He raised $35 million, which is no little feat.”
Joyce Linker, the museum board’s president in the early 1990s, said Lurie has great success as a fund-raiser because his technique “is based on teaching as a rabbi would.”
She went on: “He’s a rabbi and a teacher and he tries to explain to people, and to expand their minds, so they can see [his vision]. This is not like a home for the aged or a project that has been done before, so some people can’t relate to it immediately. He helped lay the groundwork for us to reach our entire goal.
“Brian has been terrific in taking us to the next step.”