His passing got here as a shock to Bowers workers, supporters and the bigger Orange County arts group. He was simply seen on the museum final week, serving to to place ending touches on “Guo Pei,” which formally opened Saturday and options greater than 40 delicately crafted attire by the completed Chinese language dressmaker.

For a lot of, Keller was the face and quintessential consultant of the Bowers Museum.

“Peter was a perfectionist, a really hands-on boss and a visionary,” mentioned Thuy Nguyen, chief monetary officer and senior vp on the Bowers. “Most of all, he was a really caring chief, at all times supporting and treating workers like household. I had the respect and privilege to work for him for nearly 23 years and realized a lot from him in that point.”

Keller helped safe and manage dozens of exhibitions, together with “Secret World of the Forbidden Metropolis,” the Useless Sea Scrolls, “Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World,” “Terra Cotta Warriors,” “Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasure of Ethiopia,” “Gods & Items: Vatican Ethnological Assortment” and “Mummies: Treasures from the British Museum.”

Keller helped forge partnerships with main museums all through the world, together with the British Museum, the Palace Museums in Beijing and Taipei, the Museo del Oro in Bogotá, Colombia, and lots of others.

He additionally oversaw two main constructing expansions, together with the opening of the Dorothy and Donald Kennedy Wing in February 2007, which greater than doubled the museum’s exhibition area.

“Peter had the distinctive potential to be in every single place, for everybody, all of sudden; and that makes the impression of shedding him immeasurable. He was a relentless, out and in of all of our workplaces day-after-day,” mentioned Kelly Bishop, the Bowers’ vp of exterior affairs. “His omnipresence gave us all a way of stability and power that I’m already lacking. He challenged everybody to assume past the apparent solutions, to lift the bar day-after-day.”

Keller was born in 1947 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and earned a bachelor’s diploma in geology from George Washington College. He obtained a grasp’s diploma and Ph.D. from the College of Texas at Austin, the place he specialised within the geology of northern Mexico.

Previous to becoming a member of the Bowers, Keller was the director of training on the Gemological Institute of America, the world’s largest establishment for gemology. He additionally spent practically a decade on the Pure Historical past Museum of Los Angeles, the place he was curator of minerology and later affiliate director for public applications. He joined the Bowers Museum in 1991.

Keller was instrumental within the reopening of the Bowers in 1992, which included a restaurant, new workplaces and new everlasting galleries.

He was additionally concerned within the Orange County arts group, assembly with different museum administrators, sharing concepts and inspiring them to maintain going. Arts council Arts Orange County acknowledged him for his lifetime contributions and the transformation of the Bowers with a Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award in 2013.

“What an unimaginable loss to the OC arts group and to all of us within the museum world,” mentioned Mary Platt, director of the Hilbert Museum of California Artwork in Orange. “Peter Keller was a good friend to us all – and, so long as I can bear in mind since I moved to OC – the regular and smart guiding hand on the Bowers Museum.

“In the course of the pandemic, when the OC museum administrators have been assembly month-to-month on Zoom below the auspices of Arts Orange County, Peter generously shared concepts with us all – particularly about holding on-line occasions and retaining patrons engaged whereas they couldn’t go to museums in particular person,” Platt mentioned. “He shall be significantly missed.”

Spring 2021 marked the reopening of the Bowers after a 12 months of closure because of the coronavirus pandemic. It additionally marked the 30-year anniversary of Keller’s presidency. The museum celebrated the event in June 2021 by naming the Bowers Museum entrance after Keller.

On the time, Keller mentioned, “After such a troublesome 12 months for the Bowers workers, our loyal guests, and our world group, I’m humbled to look again on the 30 years that led us to the unified household we’re right now. In a variety of methods, we got here out of the pandemic stronger than we’ve ever been.”   

Keller loved touring and infrequently went overseas with board members and mates of the museum. He rode camels within the Sahara Desert with native philanthropist and honorary board member Dee Dee Anderson. By the Bowers’ Explorers Membership, he accompanied Ed Roski Jr., an honorary board member, up the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea “on a raft product of two dugout canoes and a tarp cowl, exploring untouched villages so far as we may go,” Roski mentioned.

Keller has traveled to China with board chairwoman Anne Shih greater than 100 occasions within the final 25 years, the museum mentioned in a press release. In 2022, he fulfilled a bucket-list journey when he ventured to the South Pole with spouse Signe and Roski.

The precise explanation for Keller’s loss of life is just not but recognized. On Nov. 9, Rick Stein, president and CEO of Arts Orange County, despatched out an e mail to native arts leaders that mentioned, “It seems that Peter was driving and had a coronary heart assault. His spouse Cygne [sic] was with him and was injured, however apparently not critically.” 

Keller is survived by his spouse Signe, youngsters and grandchildren. He shall be privately buried in his hometown and plans for a celebration of life are forthcoming, a press release mentioned.