John Carter Brown III (October 8, 1934 – June 17, 2002) was the director of the U.S. National Gallery of Art from 1969 to 1992 and a leading figure in American intellectual life.
Under Brown's direction, the National Gallery became one of the leading art museums in the United States, if not the world.
His ancestors donated the initial endowment for Brown University and served as professors, administrators, and benefactors of the school in its early years.
His father, John Nicholas Brown II, served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR) under President Harry S. Truman.
He graduated summa cum laude with a major in History and Literature[4] and was president of the Harvard Glee Club.
After completing his M.B.A. at Harvard Business School, he spent a year studying with Harvard-trained art historian Bernard Berenson in Florence, Italy.
[8] In this latter position, he approved the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and an addition to the Corcoran Gallery of Art designed by Frank Gehry, which was never built.
She was the daughter of B. Rionda Braga, a Cuban who was involved in the sugar business,[21] and was the former wife of John R. Drexel IV (b.
[22] Before their divorce in 1991, they were the parents of two children:[23] In August 2000, Carter was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a terminal blood cancer, which was treated with an autologous stem cell transplant.
[25] Near the end of his life, he became engaged to marry Anne Hawley of Brookline, Massachusetts, Director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.