The Administration of the State Hermitage regrets to inform of the untimely demise of Edmund (Ted) Pillsbury, an outstanding personality in the museum world of America and a true friend of our museum, at the age of 66 years old on 25 March 2010.

Ted Pillsbury, former Director of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth between 1980 and 1998 год, oversaw art galleries and advised museums on the acquisition of museum artifacts. He was a great connoisseur of European art with an amazing attention to detail. He managed to purchase a few exceptional masterpieces for the Kimbell Art Museum.

Ted Pillsbury was one of the founders, and from 1994 to 2000 the first chairman, of the International Advisory Board of the State Hermitage founded under the auspices of UNESCO. He also oversaw the first UNESCO mission at the Hermitage in 1992. Ted remained an active member of the International Advisory Board of the State Hermitage over the entire period of his work and chaired the Society of American Friends of the Hermitage.

Ted Pillsbury was always a true friend who, better than many others, understood the peculiarities of the Hermitage with its almost 250th history.