Ashton Hawkins, Director of the Rich at the Met Museum, has died at the age of 84.


For example, it was Mr Hawkins who helped build a new wing. Dendur Temple, a gift from the Egyptian government – a project started in 1978 and sponsored by the Sackler family, with whom Mr Hawkins diligently courted. (Family name removed From the wing in 2021 for the role their company Purdue Pharma played in the opioid crisis.)

“All the great gifts of his time were projects that he was closely involved in and helped bring to fruition,” Sharon Cott, Mr. Hawkins’ protege and current Met attorney, said in an interview.

Mr. Hawkins was also secretary of the board of trustees and later advisor to the board of trustees; it was a mission that pushed him beyond his official responsibilities to become a kind of cultural consultant. astronomically rich. While not as opulent as his informal accusations were, he was often seen mingling with them at his parties in simple, perfectly tailored Savile Row suits.

If the museum found out he was a potential donor, it often fell to Mr. Hawkins to persuade them, said Emily K. Rafferty, who worked with him as head of development at the Met and later served as president.

“Sometimes it would be me and sometimes I would say, ‘Oh, I think someone else is the best person for this,’ and that person was usually Ashton,” she said in an interview. “He was a very purposeful man.”

William Ashton Hawkins was born in Manhattan on May 11, 1937 and grew up in Syosset, an affluent Long Island suburb. His father, Ashton William Hawkins, was an investment broker who moved from New Mexico to New York, where Ashton’s grandfather helped found the city. Alamogordo in 1898.



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