Today marks the first year since the passing of the Magnes Museum founder, Seymour Fromer.  All of us at the Magnes are reaching out to Seymour’s widow, Rebecca Fromer, his daughter Mira Amiras, and their family.

The last twelve months brought many changes to the collection Seymour started in 1962. The projects Seymour was so deeply involved in before his death are coming to fruition.  The Magnes Collection is now part of the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley. A celebration of October 12 brought together Magnes supporters, UC Berkeley faculty and administrators, and the leaders of the Bay Area Jewish community to mark the event.

Many attendees, including UC President Mark Yudof and Director of the Bancroft Library Charles Faulhaber, signed a symbolic ketubah, a “marriage” contract between the Magnes and UC Berkeley.

An exhibition devoted to Bernard Zakheim, a Jewish artist responsible for many important public art projects in San Francisco, opened at the Jazz Heritage Center in San Francisco last week. The exhibition is curated by Seymour’s good friend and colleague, Fred Rosenbaum, in collaboration with the Magnes, and is dedicated to Seymour’s memory.

Just yesterday, construction began on the site of the future home of the Magnes Collection at 2121 Allston Way.  It was Seymour’s dream to bring the collection closer to students and the public. This time next year we plan to open the building to a new generation of scholars and visitors.

Alla Efimova & Francesco Spagnolo