Former San Francisco Museum Director, John Buchanan, Dies At 58

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS / AP) -- John Buchanan, whose term as director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco saw a rise in both membership and attendance, has died. He was 58.

A news release on the museums' website says Buchanan died on Friday after battling cancer.

Buchanan became director of the Fine Arts Museums -- comprised of the de Young Museum and Legion of Honor -- in 2006.

During his six-year tenure, he brought such popular exhibits as "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" and "Yves St. Laurent" to the city.

Critics accused him of damaging the museums' prestige by favoring spectacles imported from elsewhere over the projects and scholarship of the museums' curators.

But Buchanan embraced his populist tendencies, telling the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/sRatFP) he wasn't afraid to acknowledge he was a populist.

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