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# The Mysterious Resignation of the Cleveland Museum of Art Director
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-mysterious-resignation-of-the-cleveland-museum-of-art-director/
- Published: 2013-10-24T16:59:38.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:44:56.000Z
- Description: On Monday, Cleveland Museum of Art director David Franklin abruptly resigned his post, noting in a statement that he needed to spend more time pursuing "research and writing." But according to Cleveland alt-weekly Scene, there's more to the story …
- Author: Mostafa Heddaya
- Tags: News, Cleveland Museum of Art, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 06:59 (2012, 2013, part 2)

![dfranklin](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2013/10/dfranklin.jpg)

Fomer Cleveland Museum of Art director David Franklin (image via cleveland.com)

On Monday, Cleveland Museum of Art director David Franklin abruptly resigned his post, noting in a [statement](http://www.clevelandart.org/about/press/media-kit/cleveland-museum-art-director-david-franklin-resigns?ref=hyperallergic.com) that he needed to spend more time pursuing “research and writing.” But [according](http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2013/10/23/former-cleveland-museum-of-art-director-david-franklin-resigns-after-affair-suicide-cell-phone-of-victim-missing?ref=hyperallergic.com) to Cleveland alt-weekly *Scene*, there’s more to the story — Franklin was named in an April 28 police report as the person who discovered and reported the scene of a suicide, that of a younger female colleague with whom he had allegedly been romantically involved. *Scene* further alleges that the *The Cleveland Plain Dealer* is in possession of the same police report they obtained, but that its publisher, Terry Egger, is a Cleveland Museum of Art trustee and may have suppressed the publication of those details. An anonymous source is [quoted](http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2013/10/22/cma-director-david-franklin-resigns-for-personal-reasons-speculation-abounds?ref=hyperallergic.com) telling the publication that David Franklin’s affair and the suicide were “the best kept secret in Cleveland for 5 months.”

The *New York Times* Arts Beat [post](http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/cleveland-museum-director-resigns/?%5Fr=0&ref=hyperallergic.com) on the matter, which sources the news from the *Plain Dealer* [article](http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2013/10/cleveland%5Fmuseum%5Fof%5Fart%5Fdirect%5F1.html?ref=hyperallergic.com#incart%5Fm-rpt-2) announcing the resignation,has trustee R. Steven Kestner cryptically commenting that Franklin “resigned for personal reasons … I really can’t say more than that.” Franklin, a scholar of Italian Renaissance art, had previously served as the deputy director and chief curator of the National Gallery of Canada, a post from which he “[mysterious\[ly\] disappeared](http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=f718982b-6273-45be-beb5-4d5c62783ff6&ref=hyperallergic.com)” in 2008.

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