ROGER MANDLE UNDERTOOK many roles during his career: museum director, educator, mentor, activist, lobbyist, and consultant. Importantly, he was also a very nice man. His influence extended throughout the world, as did his art historical expertise, which ranged from early Dutch painting to contemporary design and architecture. Yet he was equally proficient and successful as a cultural strategist, fundraiser, and administrator.
After completing his tertiary education, he started work at the Minneapolis Museum of Art (1967–1974), before commencing an eleven-year stint at the Toledo Museum of Art (1977–1988), first as associate director, then director. From 1988–1993, Mandle served as deputy director and chief curator of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., while simultaneously advising on numerous committees, including the National Council on the Arts. Then, in an extraordinarily fruitful career move, Mandle was appointed president of the Rhode Island School of Design (1993–2008), where he is remembered for modernizing the program and quadrupling its endowment to over $400 million. His reputation subsequently secured him a directorship at the Qatar Museums Authority to oversee the development of an emerging nation’s cultural and educational institutions, including twelve museums.
Mandle died in November 2020 and is survived by his wife, the acclaimed artist Gayle Wells Mandle, their two children and five grandchildren.