The world's richest art organization was facing hard times in spring 2003.
On a Wednesday in late March, seven security managers were called into a conference room at the J. Paul Getty Trust's hilltop campus in Brentwood and told that their positions had been eliminated.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday June 15, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 62 words Type of Material: Correction
Getty chief -- An article in Friday's Section A about Barry Munitz, chief executive of the J. Paul Getty Trust, said that a former employer, Maxxam Inc., had assumed responsibility for Munitz's portion of a $1-million fine that was part of a settlement with savings-and-loan regulators. In fact, Maxxam assumed responsibility for paying $1 million, but it was restitution, not a fine.
It was the first in a series of layoffs and cutbacks that year at the Getty. The trust's endowment had lost more than $1 billion in two years, mostly because of declining stock markets. Despite its reputation for bottomless wealth, the Getty was pinching pennies.
But the cuts didn't apply to everyone.
Days after the security layoffs, trust Chief Executive Barry Munitz drove up the Getty Center's winding driveway in a new Porsche Cayenne. The Getty paid $72,000 for the SUV. When ordering it, Munitz told an aide it should include the "best possible sound system," "biggest possible sunroof" and "power everything...."
Munitz is a man of grand appetites, a player among Los Angeles' elite whose effusive personality and risk-taking management style have won praise even as they have alienated some of the trust's most respected staff members.
During his seven-year stewardship, Munitz has led the Getty through a trying period of change. But he has also pushed the limits on how nonprofit organizations use their resources.
Documents show that Munitz has spent lavishly, traveling the world first class at Getty expense, often with his wife, staying at luxury hotels and mixing business with pleasure.
Munitz's total compensation topped $1 million in 2003, placing him among the highest-paid foundation chiefs, museum directors and university presidents in the nation, according to published salary surveys and a Times review. That same year, as the Getty eliminated raises for other employees, Munitz asked for an increase that brought his 2004 pay package to more than $1.2 million.
Getty officials justified his compensation by saying the trust is a uniquely complex institution that places extraordinary demands on its leader. Yet, while running the Getty, Munitz has also had time to serve on more than a dozen corporate and nonprofit boards, work that earned him at least an additional $180,000 in cash or stock options in 2004.
In balancing outside pursuits and in managing the Getty, employees and critics say, Munitz has blurred the line between his own interests and those of the organization he leads.
