Dr Martin Roth, former director of the V&A, has died at the age of 62.
The German museum director ran the London attraction from 2011 to 2016.
We are deeply saddened to hear that Dr. Martin Roth, V&A Director from 2011-2016, has died. Our statement: https://t.co/Hlw3will55 pic.twitter.com/w3VOy0DsXE
— V&A (@V_and_A) August 7, 2017
Nicholas Coleridge, chairman of the V&A, announced the news, saying: “We are extremely saddened to hear that Dr Martin Roth has died.
“Martin will be remembered as a man of prodigious energy; a director with a global reputation both within the museum world and beyond; a committed Europhile and cultural ambassador with a philosophical turn of mind, as well as a devoted husband and father.
Martin Roth helped raise the V&A to new heights. His loss will be keenly felt in the cultural world and beyond, by staff, friends & visitors
— V&A (@V_and_A) August 7, 2017
“As director of the V&A for just over five years, Martin made it his mission to raise the international profile of the museum, and under his leadership, the V&A was named 2016 Art Fund Museum of the Year.”
Mr Coleridge said Dr Roth was the impetus behind initiatives such as the V&A’s presence at the Venice Biennale and was instrumental in the founding of the V&A Research Institute.
He was also closely involved in the expansion of the museum’s footprint to Dundee and Shekou, and recent openings of the European Galleries 1600-1815 and the V&A Exhibition Road Quarter.
He added: “This, combined with exhibitions such as David Bowie Is, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, Disobedient Objects and Engineering the World: Ove Arup, raised the V&A to new heights.
“We will greatly miss Martin, and are profoundly grateful for his considerable contribution to the V&A.”
.@V_and_A is hugely saddened by death of Martin Roth – his was a prodigious internationalism & contemporary ambition https://t.co/fgDL9hISgt
— Tristram Hunt (@TristramHuntVA) August 7, 2017
Tristram Hunt, the current director of the museum, who replaced Dr Roth when he stepped down last year, wrote on Twitter: “@V_and_A is hugely saddened by death of Martin Roth – his was a prodigious internationalism & contemporary ambition.”
Dr Roth was director general of the Dresden State Art Collections from 2001 to 2011 and was appointed president of Germany’s Institute for Foreign Relations in June 2016.
