Patrick Lennox Tierney

Patrick Lennox Tierney (January 28, 1914 – June 12, 2015) was a Japanologist academic in the field of art history, an emeritus professor of the University of Utah, a former Curator of Japanese Art at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, a former Director of the Pacific Asia Museum, and a former Commissioner of Art and Monuments during the Allied occupation of Japan (1945–1952).

In the fall of 2007, the Japanese government acknowledged Tierney's life's work by conferring the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, which represents the third highest of eight classes associated with this award. Accompanying the badge of the Order was a certificate explaining the award as recognition of the extent to which Tierney has "contributed to introducing Japanese fine arts." The efforts of a lifetime have assisted in the propagation of better understanding of traditional Japanese culture in the United States. His visits to Japan every year have cumulatively contributed to exchanges in the art field between the United States and Japan. He turned 100 in January 2014, and died in 2015 at the age of 101.

Tierney earned an undergraduate degree in Japanese Art at the University of California, Los Angeles; and he was awarded a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University. He became a Professor in the Art Department at Pasadena City College. Later, he taught at the University of Utah, where he is today included amongst the faculty as an emeritus professor.

As Representative Commissioner of Art and Monuments for General Headquarters during the Allied Occupation of Japan, Tierney was responsible for organizing and overseeing the repair and preservation of cultural sites, art, and monuments bombed and destroyed in Japan during the Pacific War. General Douglas MacArthur's staff during the occupation of Japan included a Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) section. Among those serving with Tierney in Tokyo were Sherman Lee and Laurence Sickman.

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