Bellosguardo Foundation Board of Directors Formed
Is it a major step toward opening up one of Santa Barbara’s exclusive private estates to the public? We can only hope.
Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider announced Thursday the creation of a new Bellosguardo Foundation and revealed the names of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
As per the settlement agreement, the Board consists of three named individuals and seven others nominated by the mayor.
The deal comes a little over one year of working with the New York Administrator’s office and the New York Attorney General’s Charitable Division Bureau.
As part of the process the Mayor, Public Administrator and the Board agreed the Foundation would best be served by seating a total of 19 invividuals to the initial Board of Directors.
The Founding members of the Bellosguardo Board of Directors are:
Stephen Clark: Vice President and General Counsel J Paul Getty Trust
Joshua Conviser: Author/Film Producer
Robert Day: Chairman, Keck Foundation; Chairman, Trust Company of the West
Ian Devine: Clark Family Representative
Perri Harcourt: Investor/Community Philanthropist
Jim Hurley: Retired Attorney for the late Huguette Clark
Peter Jordano: President/CEO Jordano’s Inc.
Morris Jurkowitz: Investor/Community Philanthropist
Robert Lieff: Of Counsel/Founder, Lieff Cabraser Heimann and Bernstein, LLP
Diane McQuarie: Co-Founder MapFrame
Sandi Nicholson: Community Philanthropist
Jack Overall: Dantz Development Corporation/Community Philanthropist
Charles Patrizia: Corcoran Gallery Representative
Jim Petrovich: Investor/Community Philanthropist
Ron Pulice: Former Chair/CEO, Pulice Construction/Community Philanthropist
Joan Rutkowski: Retired Opera singer/Community Philanthropist
Gary Tobey: President, Haworth Marketing & Media Company
Anne Smith Towbes: Community Philanthropist
Dick Wolf: Film and Television Producer
NewsChannel 3 spoke with Mayor Schneider who said once probate is complete, the Foundation will take possession of Belloguardo’s furnishings and artwork, and Mrs. Clark’s extensive doll collection.
Negotiations between the Internal Revenue Service and the Estate’s Executors are expected to take another 12 to 18 months. During this transition, the Estate will continue to provide management of the Bellosguardo property.
“Don’t line up just yet to get through the gate,” Schneider said.
“In order to be fully open to the public as a museum, it needs to be brought up to code. Still talking a couple of years.”
Schneider expressed her full confidence the group will transform the 23 acre property “from the mysterious mansion on the hill to a place that will foster and promote the arts for the public good.”
