New Year's Eve 2007 is here!

Started my day at Yale New Haven Hospital Chapel for the memorial mass for my cousin. Her father, sister and son were there. I can't imagine what must go through their mind as they sit there. My cousin must have been in her mid-late 20's when she died of AIDS. It must have been summer, 1992 when I last saw her.

I missed seeing some other relatives who were in the area yesterday. I stopped by my parents' on the way home from New Haven but I was too early and was just too antsy to hang around till they got there. I did want to ask my cousin's son who goes to school in Idaho how he feels about HR 222. I did email my Congressman to see how he voted.

When I got back home and realized the Green Bay game was not on TV, I went for a walk. Did my hometown loop so I got a new look at the river and the surrounds with the snow and that grey "snow is coming" sky. You really can see and feel it when snow is on the way. Tried to read a new book when I got back, but I could not even sit still for that. Very antsy day.

The saving grace of the day was Green Bay won and I saw a great Q&A show. This guy was incredibly interesting!

Marc Pachter
National Portrait Gallery, Director

BIO:
CURRENT:
· He retired on October 1, 2007 as the director of the National Portrait Gallery after a 33-year career at the Smithsonian Institution.
· He was appointed in July 2000 as the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, the nation’s only museum of American biography and portraiture.
PREVIOUS:
· Also directed National Museum of American History (Nov. 2001-Jan. 2003) - the first person to lead 2 Smithsonian museums at the same time.
· First joined Gallery’s staff in 1974 as chief historian & assistant director.
· Began program called Living Self Portraits in which he interviewed well-known personalities, like Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham Left Portrait Gallery for 10 years (1990-2000) to hold several key positions in Smithsonian’s central admin, including deputy assistant secretary for external affairs and counselor to then-Secretary Michael Heyman.
· Organizer and chair of the Smithsonian’s 150th anniversary celebration.

Highlights of his tenure at National Portrait Gallery:
· Ensured Gilbert Stuart’s “Lansdowne” portrait of George Washington remains on permanent display by raising $30 million in 2002.
· Established awards program to honor service to & portrayal of presidency.
· Created first national portrait competition.
· Oversaw reopening of Nat’l Portrait Gallery, part of Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art & Portraiture, last July after extensive 6-yr renovation.

BOOKS:
Authored or edited a number of books, including Abroad in America: Visitors to the New Nation, Champions of American Sport, Documentary History of the Supreme Court, Telling Lives: The Biographer’s Art, and A Gallery of Presidents, as well as entries in Dictionary of American Biography. Editor for the scholarly journal Biography, & led a group of DC-based biographers for 20 years.

OTHER:
In 1999, awarded Sec.’s Gold Medal for Distinguished Service. Serves on Nat’l D-Day Museum board of trustees; Represents Smithsonian on President’s Cmte on Arts/Humanities, W.H. Historical Assoc & Woodrow Wilson Center board.

EDUCATION:
Graduated summa cum laude from University of California at Berkeley. Woodrow Wilson fellow & a 5-Year Prize fellow in American history at Harvard Univ., where he taught colonial history, served as a tutor in the honors program, and performed research in American intellectual and cultural history.

PERSONAL:
Born in New York, but grew up in Los Angeles. Lives in Washington, DC.

Getting ready to go in to work today to check messages and mail. Then I may treat myself to dumplings and an egg roll, but we will see. Other than that, no other plan. I may watch for "my" confetti on TV, but doubt if I will last that long. But first things first, I need to defrost, de-snow my car.

Have a great New Year's Eve!