IN TRIBUTE Frank D. Preusser 1944–2017 148 tees for the conservation of cultural materials, including UNESCO’s Advisory Committee to the Egyptian Antiquities Organization for the preservation of the Giza Plateau. Preusser left the Getty in 1993 and founded Frank Preusser and Associates, a consulting company that allowed him to provide conservation services for a variety of museums, libraries, art dealers, and private collections. In keeping with his intellectual openness and vitality, he went to Japan to teach for three years at the Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku. Missing the resources and collegiality of a museum, Preusser joined LACMA in 2005. In the art community, it is often overlooked both how nascent the study of conservation is and how dependent we all are on the careful work of those who identify, authenticate, restore, and protect our shared cultural history. Preusser was a pioneer in the fi eld of conservation studies, and he set the most rigorous standards in his training, diligent work, and collegiality. I fi rst met Preusser in 2001 and knew him for sixteen years. He was always helpful. I enjoyed his keen sense of humor, but above all, I admired him for the breadth of his knowledge and his industriousness. No one who knew Preusser would be surprised to learn that he was working all the way to the end of his life. He will be missed. Spencer S. Throckmorton This past February, Frank D. Preusser died. He was the Andrew W. Mellon Senior Conservation Scientist for the Conservation Center at the Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA). He devoted his life to the preservation of cultural materials and was judged to be one of the preeminent fi gures in the fi eld of conservation studies. Preusser was a mentor to many young professionals and had a wide circle of friends. He admired the material culture of all corners of the world, and he was generous in sharing his knowledge. He was also the author or co-author of many articles published in scientifi c journals. He was a tireless worker but always open-minded, willing to meet someone new or examine yet another work of art. Preusser was born in Germany in 1944, in the midst of World War II. His university education was in Germany, where he received a BS and an MS in chemistry and a PhD in physical chemistry and chemical technology, all from the Technische Universität in Munich. Subsequently, he accepted a position as head of the Research Laboratory for the Bavarian State Art Collections. He was the only museum scientist on the staff. Preusser came to the United States in 1983 at the invitation of the newly created J. Paul Getty Museum, and he served in multiple positions at the Getty Conservation Institute. During his tenure at the Getty, Preusser also sat on numerous advisory commit-
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