BIAS Presidents
BIAS Presidents
John R.H. Blum, President, Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences
John Robert Halsey Blum, the last president of BIAS, remains active in Brooklyn cultural affairs to this day. He currently serves on the Green-Wood Historic Fund’s Board of Directors.
Blum is from the fourth generation in his family to provide leadership to BIAS. His great-grandfather, Abraham Abraham (founder of Abraham & Strauss), was one of the Institute’s founders. His grandfather, Edward C. Blum, was president of the Institute from 1928 to 1938, and his father, Robert E. Blum, was president from 1951 to 1959. Unlike his forbears, however, John Blum headed BIAS during a difficult time, when the economic future of both downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Academy of Music was in peril.
Blum, a lawyer with the firm Milbank, Tweed, Hope and Hadley, served on the Downtown Brooklyn Redevelopment Committee, Inc. Before assuming the presidency of BIAS, he co-chaired the Institute’s Long Range Planning Committee, which undertook a 1965—66 study of BIAS. The concern was that the Institute’s “…offerings have remained unchanged while the community about it has been changing.” A key issue was funding, “in the light of the Institute’s narrow base of financial support due to the exodus of higher- and middle-income families to the suburbs, and the greater concentration of lower-income families in Brooklyn.”
The report opened with the statement “The Academy of Music is like a living organism…it is the most vulnerable of the Institute’s departments…It is at a crossroads with respect to the future. Costs are up. The neighborhood is not improving. Competition in the City has increased, and there is, of course, the ubiquitous television.” It concluded with the recommendations that the Academy build a new loyal audience, offer exciting programming, and recognize Brooklyn’s ethnic diversity. It encouraged pilot projects, innovations, and wider and deeper funding.
Francis T. Christy, President, Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences
1959—66
Francis T. Christy (1897—1979) was a prominent lawyer and partner in his own firm. At the time of his death, his book, The Transfer of Stock, had five editions, and copies are still held in more than 260 libraries.
Educated at Dartmouth and Harvard Law, Christy joined a New York law firm, and worked with John D. Rockefeller and Winthrop Aldrich to assemble sites to develop Rockefeller Center. He served in the Rockefeller Center Corporation in various positions through 1939, after which he returned to private practice. Always active in civic affairs, Christy became a trustee of BIAS in 1937, vice president in 1954, and was elected president in 1959.
During Christy’s tenure, a controversial plan was considered: moving the Brooklyn Children’s Museum to Eastern Parkway and Washington Avenue, next to the Brooklyn Museum. The New York Times reported: “Assemblyman Thomas R. Jones, Democrat of Brooklyn, charged that the museum’s two century-old mansions had been allowed to deteriorate to justify moving. ‘The Negro community regards this as an act of deliberate sabotage,’ he said. The charge was emphatically denied by Francis T. Christy…(who) said he felt a new museum would be the better investment. ‘Our business is running a museum that will serve the most children in the best way.’” Ultimately, the Children’s Museum stayed in Crown Heights. An estimated $600,000 was spent on renovations and additions.
Christy presided during a period of change in the community. Recognizing the need to adjust BIAS’ resources, he initiated a Long Range Planning Committee for the Institute. In 1966—67, the Carnegie Corporation funded a wide-ranging study of the organization, directed by Dr. George D. Stoddard, a respected educator who’d served as commissioner of education for the State of New York, chancellor and vice president of New York University, and president of the University of Illinois.
Robert E. Blum, President, Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences
1951-59
Robert E. Blum (1899—1999) was the grandson of Abraham Abraham, founder of the department store Abraham & Straus, and son of Edward C. Blum, BIAS president from 1928—38. In 1922, a year after his graduation from Yale, Blum started work at A&S, rising to become president of Federated Department Stores, a position he held from 1944 until 1965. He and his wife, Ethel Halsey Blum, lived in Salisbury, CT and summered in Mt. Desert Island, ME.
In addition to his presidency of BIAS, Blum also served on the governing boards of the Academy of Music, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, and the Brooklyn Museum, where a gallery was named in his honor. Blum was a major supporter of other New York cultural institutions—a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History and the New York Zoological Society, and was instrumental in developing Lincoln Center, where he served as treasurer from 1956 to 1963.
Adrian Van Sinderen, President, Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences
1942—51
Adrian Van Sinderen (1887—1963) was a banker, businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist. After graduating from Yale University, he briefly taught at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire, went to work at J.P. Morgan, and then became a partner in the brokerage firm of W.A. and A.M. White, where he remained until his death. In addition to his many years of service to BIAS, both as president and as a board member, Van Sinderen was president of Brooklyn Hospital for 16 years, vice president of the Long Island College of Medicine, and officer of several charitable funds and civic groups, including the Red Cross and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Van Sinderen raised horses, collected books, was an accomplished organist, and an avid traveller. Near the end of his life he wrote books about his travels, including From Canal to the Horn, The Lure of the Middle East, Africa: Land of Many Lands, A Voyage Through the Azure Seas, and the autobiographical Our Home in the Countryside.
He established the Adrian Van Sinderen Book Collecting Prize at Yale, which recognizes a senior and a sophomore each year for the quality of their personal book collections. Van Sinderen’s wife, Annie Jean White, owned the first book printed in America, The Bay Psalm Book. Shortly after her husband’s death, she donated it to the Library of Congress, where it is displayed prominently in the collection of American books.
James G. McDonald, President, Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences
1938—42
James G. McDonald (1886—1964) was a US diplomat, who served as the first US Ambassador to Israel. McDonald studied and taught at Indiana University, Harvard, and the University of Georgia. At the urging of his Harvard advisors, he first moved to New York City to take a position with the Civil Service Reform Association, an organization committed to ending government corruption. From 1919 to 1933 he served as chairman of the Foreign Policy Association, affording him a unique vantage from which to watch the Nazis rise to power. In 1933 the League of Nations assigned him to run the High Commission for Refugees Coming from Germany, where he negotiated the resettlement of Jewish refugees, but he resigned in 1935, frustrated by the “lack of compassion” and lack of cooperation he experienced. From 1936 to 1938 he worked for The New York Times, and then until 1945 he served as chairman of the President’s Advisory Commission on Political Refugees. It was during these busy years that he also served as president of BIAS.
McDonalds’ private diaries are housed in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, the first of the three volumes titled Advocate for the Doomed. A committed Zionist, in 1948 he served as US Representative to Israel, and was later named Ambassador, a post he held from 1949 to 1951.
Edward C. Blum, President, Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences
1928-38
dward C. Blum (1863—1946) was born in Manhattan, but returned to Germany as an infant with his mother after his father died. Educated in Europe, he returned to New York in 1883 for a job in importing. In 1896, he married Florence Abraham, daughter of Abraham Abraham, founder of Abraham & Straus department store, and one of the founders of BIAS. Blum joined A&S, was a partner until 1920, then a vice president, and became president in 1930.
Frank L. Babbott, President, Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences
1921—28
Frank L. Babbot (1854—1933) was a prominent Brooklyn citizen, art collector, patron, philanthropist, and jute merchant. Originally from upstate New York, Babbott studied at Amherst, received a law degree from Columbia, and came to Brooklyn in 1883. From 1883 to 1901 he was director of Chelsea Jute Mills, a manufacturer of jute and rope products whose labor practices and violations are cited in texts about the history of turn-of-the-century child labor law. He married Lydia Richardson Pratt, daughter of Charles Pratt, who was a founder of Pratt Institute, a wealthy petroleum industry pioneer, and a Brooklyn scion.
In addition to his service to BIAS, Babbott was active in a host of other organizations. He served as president and was a trustee of Packer Collegiate Institute for 40 years, was a member of the Brooklyn Board of Education for 10 years, a Vice President of the Brooklyn Public Library, a member of the Municipal Art Commission, and a trustee of the Brooklyn Trust Company. He had a private fine art collection of Italian masters and “modern” artists such as Whistler, and made many gifts and loans to the Brooklyn Museum.
A. Augustus Healy
1895—1921
A. Augustus Healy (1850—1921) was an avid art collector and leather merchant. Born in Brooklyn to parents with an impressive art collection, he travelled yearly on collecting trips to Europe, which cultivated his interest in art. Educated at the Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn, he joined his father’s firm, A. Healy and Sons, Leather Merchants, a major leather manufacturer. He later served as vice president of Central Leather Company until his retirement in 1920.
Healy was best known as an art collector. He was a special partner in A. Olivotti & Co., dealers in Italian antiques, and was honored for his work on behalf of Italian immigrants by the King of Italy, who granted him the title of Knight of the Crown of Italy. Healy left an impressive art collection to the Brooklyn Museum: two Sargents (including his own portrait), as well as paintings by Canaletto, Bellini, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Rubens, and others.
Healy’s 1921 obituary in The New York Times noted that he had been president of BIAS for a quarter of a century and had donated several hundred thousand dollars to the Institute, in addition to works of art. The obituary also noted that flags on Brooklyn public buildings were flown at half-staff in tribute, and that Frank L. Babbott, Healy’s successor as BIAS president, was an honorary pallbearer at his funeral.
John B. Woodward, President, Brooklyn Institute of Arts & Sciences
1878—79; 1887—95
John B. Woodward (1835—96) was, according to his obituary in The New York Times, “probably one of the best-known men in Brooklyn and had taken an active interest in the affairs of that city for years.” He imported/exported leather goods and wool. In 1875 he held a paid position as president of the Brooklyn Board of City Works. Woodward had a long military career. He joined the Brooklyn City Guards in 1854, rose through the ranks, and served with the Thirteenth Regiment during the Civil War, becoming a major general in the Second Division of Brooklyn. Post-war, he was appointed inspector general of the National Guard of New York and then adjutant general. He resigned from the Guard in 1879.
Woodward’s extensive civic contributions, in addition to service to the Institute, include: serving as president of the Board of Park Commissioners, on a commission to plan an elevated railway for Fulton Street, on a committee to secure reforms in municipal government, and investigating charges against the management of Green-Wood Cemetery. Woodward staunchly supported civil service when political patronage ran rampant. In 1883, he was a founder of the Brooklyn Citizens’ League, advocating for non-partisan municipal government, and in 1885, ran unsuccessfully for mayor as an Independent reformer. Woodward was active in charitable works, serving as treasurers of funds to help those displaced by the 1889 Johnstown, PA flood, and to provide relief to the survivors of the 1895 Armenian genocide.
His greatest achievement was as president of the Brooklyn Institute. His life-long association with took root when he used the library as a child. Woodward became a trustee in 1867, and as secretary of the Institute during Jesse C. Smith’s presidency, he was instrumental in ensuring that the debt on the Washington Street building was paid off.
In 1978, Woodward became president of the Institute. He worked aggressively to revive the organization and develop its educational work. He approached Franklin W. Hooper, a professor of chemistry and geology at Adelphi College, who was elected to the board of directors in 1887 and rose to director in 1888. By 1889 the Institute had become a thriving center with departments spanning 21 disciplines, and prominent scholars as members. In 1890 Woodward rechartered the organization as the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences (BIAS). Woodward and Hooper ushered BIAS into a period of tremendous growth. During the eight years of Woodward’s presidency, membership rose from 82 to 3700; the number of public lectures rose from 18 to 496; special meetings and class exercises from 60 to 2124, and annual attendance from 6900 to more than 218,000.
Woodward also worked to secure the future growth of BIAS, obtaining a site for the museum, and issuing bonds to erect it; the museum opened in 1897. By 1903—04 BIAS had more than 7250 members, 560 public lectures, 3700 special meetings and class exercises, and an annual attendance of 465,000 (down from 1900—01’s high of 542,000).
These were the glory years of BIAS. General Woodward is quoted as saying:
It was in 1887 that I became president for the second time and was able to see plans for the Institute adopted and carried out…We had struggled with a debt of fourteen thousand dollars, which was a source of endless embarrassment. On account of it the Institute had been practically lifeless for twenty years. Now see what we have—an endowment fund of more than two hundred thousand dollars in as good securities as can be found in Brooklyn and the city ready to issue bonds to the extent of three hundred thousand more in order to erect a museum building…And all this has been accomplished mainly through the efforts of Franklin W Hooper.
Similarly modest, Professor Hooper attributed BIAS’ success “very largely to the wisdom and energy and influence of General Woodward.”