Fellow, friend, and supporter of Salzburg Global Seminar dies aged 80
It is with profound sadness that we share that Marc Pachter, former director of the National Portrait Gallery in the United States, died on February 17, aged 80.
Marc was a longstanding Salzburg Global Fellow, friend, and supporter. His distinguished career at the Smithsonian spanned more than 33 years.
In addition to being the National Portrait Gallery's director, he served as the museum’s chief historian and assistant director. Marc was the Smithsonian assistant secretary for external affairs, chair of the Smithsonian’s 150th anniversary celebration in 1996, and acting director of the National Museum of American History.
Marc's association with Salzburg Global dates back to 1982, marking the beginning of a remarkable journey of contribution and leadership across a wide array of programs that spanned nearly four decades.
His initial engagement as a faculty member for the Contemporary American Literature program set the stage for his enduring commitment to our mission, evidenced by his influential role in various programs and his pivotal contributions to the LGBT* Forum and Culture, Arts and Society program.
“Marc was an extraordinary person and an extraordinary friend of Salzburg Global Seminar. For more than 40 years, Marc was an advisor, supporter and champion of our work, and successive generations of Salzburg Global staff benefitted immensely from his wisdom and generosity. While Marc led some of the most well-known cultural institutions in the world, he still always had time and wisdom to share, and did so with a generosity and kindness that was unmatched. Marc will be missed and remembered by all of us in Salzburg”, shared Benjamin Glahn, Salzburg Global's deputy CEO and managing director for programs.
“His dedication to Salzburg [Global] was notable indeed - his informed and intelligent ideas were always significant to the Advisory Committee on Culture and the Arts discussions, as they were in so many other of his ventures. Never insistent, always attentive, intellectually inventive, he lived a scholarly life with brio”, also said Alberta Arthurs, a Salzburg Global Fellow and friend.
Klaus Mueller, founder & Chair of the Salzburg Global LGBT* Forum, shared: “Marc invited me into my first session with Salzburg Global in 2000 and again 2006. During the creation and development of the Salzburg Global LGBT* Forum, I relied on his steady support and recommendations through many years.
“Marc was my closest friend for over 30 years and guided me through many situations with his empathy and decisive counsel. He made me into the person I am today. It is both with a sense of tremendous loss and overwhelming gratitude with which I will remember my dear friend. He has touched many lives.”
In this moment of sorrow, our thoughts are with Marc's family, friends, and all who knew him.
* LGBT: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. We are using this term as it is currently widely used in human rights conversations on sexual orientation and gender identity in many parts of the world, and we would wish it to be read as inclusive of other cultural concepts, contemporary or historical, to express sexuality and gender, intersex and gender non-conforming identities.
