Guggenheim's top donor pulls out

NEW YORK, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- New York's Guggenheim museum has lost its top donor in a dispute over the director's vision and spending.

Cleveland philanthropist Peter Lewis, who has been a trustee of the museum since 1993 and most recently its chairman, stepped down Wednesday, citing "differences in direction." He has given the institution $77 million, nearly four times as much as any other board member in its history.

Lewis told the New York Times he wished the museum would "concentrate more on New York and less on being scattered all over the world."

For years there has been tension between Lewis and Guggenheim Director Thomas Krens, but most board members support Krens' ideas that include building Guggenheim Museums around the world.

While Krens, who has been director of the museum for 17 years, has a reputation for putting together popular shows, he is also known for spending a lot of endowment money on them. The fund has shrunk from $56 million in 1998 to $45 million, but board members say cash and pledges of $25 million will more than make up the difference.

Attendance rose last year and is now 900,000 per year.