Statement by Robert L. Lynch

WASHINGTON, D.C. - At a time when our nation seems stymied by partisan gridlock, I'm greatly saddened by the passing of Leonard Garment, a charming, modest, and gifted leader who was known for working across the aisle and bridging divides.

As a top advisor to President Nixon -who had voted for John F. Kennedy in 1960- Len's portfolio was domestic policy, which included civil rights and arts and culture. In 1969, he was charged with finding the successor to Roger Stevens, the founding chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and looked to Nancy Hanks, then president of the Associated Councils on the Arts, the name Americans for the Arts was known by at that time.  During the five years of Nixon's presidency, Len worked closely with Nancy as NEA Chair to increase the agency's annual appropriation from $9 million to $80 million, the largest percentage increase ever received by that agency under one administration.

Because of his career as a successful Washington power lawyer, many people are unaware of Len's own arts background and considerable musical talent.  A jazz musician who mastered the clarinet and saxophone, he performed alongside some of the jazz greats of the 1940's before embarking upon his legal career.  Throughout his long and distinguished life, he occasionally melded his love of the arts with governance and public policy by jamming with Russian musicians in Moscow in 1969, serving as chair of the Brooklyn Academy of Music in the 1970's, and founding the National Jazz Museum in Harlem in 2002.

He was known for writing and speaking eloquently on the role of the arts in society and received the National Medal of Arts from President Bush in 2005 for his advocacy and patronage of the arts.

In his delivery of our 1989 Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy, he said:  "It is then no mystery why I was so sure in 1969 that the arts deserved more substantial federal recognition and support. My life had shown me beyond doubt that the arts were both a private need and a public good, that the arts existed for themselves and for their role in society, and that artists and artistic institutions could certainly use the money. And by God, that was that."

On behalf of those of us who work in the arts who had the pleasure of knowing him and of his critical role in establishing a stronghold for federal arts funding, his voice will be sorely missed.