Guggenheim Gift With Big Strings Attached

“Peter B. Lewis, the philanthropist who recently stunned Cleveland, his hometown, by announcing a boycott of charitable contributions there, this week gave the beleaguered Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum a $12 million gift, but only after forcing the institution’s ambitious director to accept a pared-down budget. Mr. Lewis, who is chairman of the museum’s board of trustees and its largest benefactor, said he had presented Thomas Krens, the museum’s flamboyant and controversial director, with a ‘tough love’ choice: he could either bring the museum’s tangled financial affairs in order, or start looking for another job.”