Robert Fitzpatrick (art executive)

Robert Fitzpatrick (born 1940) is an Irish American art academic and executive, entrepreneur and former politician. In 1972, he was elected as Baltimore, Maryland's youngest city council member while also serving as a professor of medieval French literature and dean of students at Johns Hopkins University. Time Magazine named him one of its "200 Faces for the Future" in 1974.

In 1975 Fitzpatrick was appointed President of California Institute of the Arts (colloquially known as CalArts), where he remained for 12 years. CalArts is an arts institute in Valencia, California, offering undergraduate and graduate arts degrees in visual arts, music, theatre, film and video, dance, animation, and creative writing. In 1987 he resigned as President of CalArts to take the position of head of EuroDisney in Paris.

During his tenure at CalArts, Fitzpatrick served as the director of the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival in Los Angeles, California. He was also the founder and director of the Los Angeles Festival, which grew directly out of the 1984 Olympic Games.

From 1987 to 1993, he served as CEO of Euro Disney Resort, overseeing the creation of the $4 billion theme park and resort: Euro Disneyland, 7 resort hotels, and a dining, entertainment and shopping district (Festival Disney). The resort opened in April 1992, and Fitzpatrick left the company following year.

In 1996, Fitzpatrick became the dean of the School of the Arts at Columbia University in New York City, serving there for two years. He joined the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago as its Director and CEO in 1998, holding the longest tenure of any director to date. During his tenure, MCA was awarded the Arts Presenters/MetLife Foundation Award for Excellence in Arts Access.

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