Charles Millard ’54

Charlie died Dec. 11, 2017, at his Chapel Hill, N.C., home.

He came to Princeton from the Nichols School in Buffalo, N.Y. He majored in art, joined Charter Club, and was active in Triangle and Orange Key. He rowed on the freshman crew, participated in Roy Heath’s Advisee Project, and graduated magna cum laude.

After service in the Navy, he earned a Ph.D. in fine arts at Harvard in 1971. Charlie held major curatorial positions at the Los Angeles County Museum and at the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington before becoming director of the Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. There he securely tied the Ackland’s mission to university teaching. He invited students to museum events and began a program of steady public outreach that included local children. Millard described the seven years heading the Ackland as his happiest.

The sale of a priceless but unrecognized sculpture, which he had serendipitously purchased for a pittance, enabled him to establish the Tyche Foundation, from which much of Ackland’s collection was founded. Charlie’s modesty masked a deep wit, and a true gift for friendship. He is remembered as a connoisseur and patron whose acuity and generosity has benefited cultural institutions across the country.